The Mission
by kittiesrock90210
Summary: After Fang. Fang is off to complete a mission while away from the flock. A mission he's totally been failing at. At least, till now. Rated T for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi!**

**So basically, I`m writing a new story...no shit.**

**So this takes place post Fang (I`ve read it about seven times...I still cry at the end and when Fangs dying... it`s pretty sad)**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

**Highlight of the Day: I was riding in the car with my older brother (he just got his license) and we were stopped at an intersection when someone else playing the same music as us pulled up beside us. I always thought that would be awesome. It`s actually really awkward. ;)**

**Disclaimer: Maximum Ride Belongs to James Patterson... blah blah blah... I don`t own anything.**

Fang POV

I woke up on the bathroom floor.

The entire place smelled like shit, but hey, that's what you get when you go to sleep in a subway bathroom.

I moaned as I lifted myself off the floor, brushing off my jacket, and then stared in the mirror. My hair was messy over my face, and my eyes were surrounded by dark circles. Grime was stuck to my face, and I'm pretty sure I smelled really bad.

Whatever, I'd been in worse.

I stepped out of the bathroom, then walked through the New York underground until I found an exit to outside, and walked up slowly. The sidewalk and streets were already packed with people, and I had to push my way through the crowd to eventually duck into a little McDonald's. Breakfast.

I stood in line for a while, and ordered my eight bacon breakfast sandwiches. Someone had left their wallet in the bathroom, so I could afford to eat big.

The cashier shot me a look, like she couldn't believe anyone in their right mind would eat this much, but handed me back some cash.

"$8.01 is your change. Enjoy your meal." she smiled. You could just tell her heart wasn't in it.

I grabbed my tray of food and walked towards a table next to the door, in case I needed to make a quick exit. It was close to windows, and there was a fire extinguisher beside me, if t came to the point where I needed a weapon. I quickly scanned the room, but no one seemed Eraserish, and there didn't appear to be any immediate threats. I leaned back into the seat, which shadowed me against the light, and maybe no one would notice me as I turned semi-invisible.

I took my first bite. I ate quietly, and thought to myself.

This was day 188. So far my mission success was still a whopping 0%. Great.

I'd been working on a little mission ever since I left Max and the flock. If Max was out to save the world, I was still going to help, just from afar, I guess. Something Gunther-Hagen said had set me off, given me an idea.

I just, hadn't, you know, gotten anything accomplished. Maybe I should give up, and go back home to the flock. That's what I feel like doing, but that really defeats the whole purpose, which was to leave the flock in order to secure their safety.

I should probably try to think positively. I only have 97% of those twenty years until I get to see Max again. Just freaking great.

My plan was to fly across the USA, and if I didn't get any luck with my plan, I was going to head over to Europe to continue my search.

Confession: I've stayed in New York longer than scheduled because it kind of reminds me of the time when I was still with the flock. The first time Max ever kissed me. Those days seemed a lifetime ago. You know, instead of just half a year.

I dumped my wrapper-covered tray by a garbage can as soon as I was finished and I walked out of the door. I contemplated returning to the Institute to see if I could get some answers, but I wondered if it still even existed, or had it been shut down, just like the School. Besides, even if it was still real it would be a death mission to try and walk in there alone. It would be so much easier if I had, say, a group of five winged mutants with me. For example

And since I didn't see myself getting anywhere, I walked into a library and did what I always did when bored. Blog.

_You are reading Fang's Blog. Welcome!_

_You are visitor: 41, 969, 547_

_Yo readers, sup?_

_Kids often run away from home because they hate the family they came from. They feel like no one wants them, and can't stand being around their parents and siblings._

_I ran away from home to protect the family I love._

_You know, just another way bird kids are extremely messed up and total freaks. Right now I'm roaming the streets of a big city (I'm not going to mention which one or which country I'm in because knowing Max, she would come and find me). _

_I am continuing my secret little mission (unsuccessfully) and if you see a bird kid with black wings in your neighbourhood, don't tell anyone ;)_

_My life has been pretty low key recently, but because I`m short of words, I`m just going to answer a few fan questions._

_Cheerleadingchick911 from California writes:_

_If you come around San Fransico, could you just, like, call me? 892- 7746_

_Uhm, I wasn't planning a trip to California anytime soon, but either way, by talking to you, you could actually end up with your mouth ducked taped and your arms bound. It's best you just do not associate with me in person._

_--Fang_

_Gamer69 from Vancouver B.C. writes:_

_Dude, like, if you are away from home and everything, then do you sleep on the street like a hobo?_

_Street? No. More like trees and caves._

_--Fang_

_Love .Live .Laugh from Washington writes:_

_So, like, how'd you learn to fly?_

_Jeb, this guy who helped us escape from the School (I'm not sure whether he's a bad guy or not) help teach us, especially Max. and sometimes she helped me out and stuff. It took a lot of painful face plants to get it right. I also picked up some techniques from hawks._

_--Fang_

I shut down the computer walked out of the library. I headed out onto the busy Manhattan streets and edged around the swarms of people. No one seemed to notice me, but I liked it that way.

The sky was dark, and the moon was out, full and round. I looked out towards Central Park, which was now in sight with my raptor vision. I stared ahead, remembering the times when the whole flock slept there together, when Angel was still normal, well, as normal as you can be as a bird child.

I stopped looking where I was going and ran into something. Hard. A girl.

She had long black hair which flopped over one eyes, and was clothed in all black. Black hoodie, black shirt, black tight pants, and black converse. She glared at me with dark, cold eyes.

I blinked as she cussed. "Damn bird kid," she muttered under her breath as she was brushing her hoodie off, like to get all my Fang-ness off her _oh-too-good_ self. Like I was a disease. I was immediately on full alert, though she didn't seem like she was an Eraser. Still, the way she'd called me a bird kid sent chills down my spine.

"What?" I asked her.

She rolled her eyes and walked away.

I stumbled to catch up to her. "Wait, why'd you say that?"

"Cause you are." She said softly as she pushed her way through the crowd and disappeared. Even with my raptor vision, I couldn't catch any sight of her. I glanced around warily… did people know who I was? Was my identity known to people? You know, the mutant freak with wings. In fact, the loner mutant freak with wings.

I shrugged it off and walked to Central Park, and made sure no one was watching as I snapped my wings out and flew up near to the top of a tree. I found a smooth branch, and leaned against the trunk.

I wondered how Max was doing taking care of the flock with her whole mom-thing. Was Jeb still there with them? Were staying in some safe house provided by the CSM?

My jaw locked. Was Dylan trying to fill the spot I left behind? I knew that's what he wanted, for me to be out of the way so there would be room for him to move in on Max. Had Max let him?

I wouldn't know. Not for the next 19 years and 177 days. And that just plain sucks. Big time.

I ate a quick dinner of turkey sandwich meat and drank some water, slid down the branch a little more, and rested my head against the my pack as a pillow. I was about to close my eyes when I saw a dark shadow dart across the full moon.

A bird shadow, except I don't think birds can be that big.

Or wear shoes.

I slid my backpack over my shoulders and snapped out my wings, fourteen feet of black feathers.

Mission success possibly increased to 1%.

I took off into the sky to follow it.

**Review please... You only have to click that... well it`s not green amyore.... button and write some comment. itself said that a well rounded critiquewas the best gift you could give a writer.**

**Or you can flame me if you want.**

**But please, say SOMETHING!!!!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, here's chapter 2!**

**Highlight of the day: I cut myslef this morning, shaving. On my face, right along the jaw line. I'm a girl. I was shaving my legs.**

* * *

It felt good to spread my wings and fly. Ha ha.

I flew as fast I could, trying to keep my sight on the bird kid. I flapped my powerful wings, and I was catching up a bit. Its flying was a little clumsy and stiff, as if they hadn't flown in a while. My eyes were trained on the bird kid; I couldn't afford to lose sight of it, because even though I had my raptor vision, I could lose it at any moment. The bird kid almost blended into the dark night sky.

But then again, I was faster, and more invisible.

Then it occurred to me that the person I was following could be one of the flock members. I looked closer. One of the bigger kids, like Max, Iggy, or maybe Dylan. If it was Dylan, I just might start a fight.

Then I swish of hair. It was a girl.

God, I hope it's not Max. Then I'd get beat up or something. Or worse, she'd cry, even though she's not the crying type, and then I'd feel terrible all over again. Or she'd kill me. One of those three.

I was less than 100 yards away, when I saw her tense. Had she noticed me?

Probably, because she suddenly fell into a dive, aimed straight down. I hurried to catch up to her, losing altitude.

She pulled back off and sped up, working her wings quickly. Well, two can do that.

I went as fast as I could, gaining on her. Wind burnt my cheeks, and my eyes were watering slightly. 40 yards, 30 yards, 20 yards, 10 yards, 5 yards...

"Hey!" I said, but she kept going, trying to ignore me.

I grabbed her foot, almost completely stopping her. She placed a solid kick in my face, breaking my nose.

_Ignore the pain_ I told myself, and pulled her foot closer. She bent her knee, twisted, turned to face me, and punched my jaw, quickly followed by a snap kick to my stomach, knocking the air out of me. I almost let go.

_Pain is just a message. Tell it to call back later._

I held her leg tightly, and elbowed her in the stomach. She grunted. She swung her leg up at lightning speed, about to hit a crotch shot, but I caught her leg with her knee hooked under my elbow.

"Fuck off!" she snapped while punching my square in the face, hitting my already damaged nose.

Damn that hurt. But I held on, and stopped flapping my wings. She flapped hers desperately, but my weight was dragging her down. I mean, she couldn't weigh more than 95 pounds. We were plummeting at a fast pace, and were about 200 yards from being a nice splat on the ground. Meanwhile, she's still punching me.

"What the hell!" she screamed as she raked her nails across my cheek, splitting the skin a bit.

I snapped my wings out, and they caught air just a bit before we hit the ground with a soft _thud! _I pinned her on the ground with all of my weight, and held her there, my arm pressed against her neck.

She struggled, and then met my eyes. Her dark eyes stared at me coldly.

It was the girl from the sidewalk. You know, the creepy one.

"Yo," I said quietly.

She glared at me.

"I'm Fang,"

She spit on my face. Touché.

Blood from my nose dripped onto her face. "Sorry," I said.

Death glare.

"You're a girl of many words."

Silence.

Well this was just freaking great. Good job Fang, the plan is working perfectly. Bird kid hates you.

"You hungry?"

Crotch shot.

I winced as pain shot up in my stomach. I pressed harder against her neck. "You're not much of a people person."

She coughed. "And you are?" she said quietly with a harsh edge to her voice.

She said something. Improvement.

I loosened my press against her neck and sat up. She coughed three times and sat up, looking around her to see if someone was coming, or maybe for an escape route. I tightened my grip on her arm.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Could you let me go?" she said quietly. Her face was expressionless, but her eyes were cold, and her jaw was stiff. Her left hand was twitching slightly.

I realized my nose was still bleeding. Using one hand I reached into my bag and pulled out a dirty old black T-shirt and wiped some of the blood off of my face. I was half expecting her to run away. She didn't though, at least, not yet.

I threw the T-shirt on the ground and took out two granola bars. "Want one?"

She took it from my hand and bit the wrapper off, then took slow bites, watching me warily. I ate mine, though my jaw was still a little bit sore from her punching it.

"So, are there more of you?" I was trying to be conversational. Which isn't easy for me. At all.

"When are you gonna let me leave? I've got places to be." She said quietly. In fact, she said everything quietly, so I'm just going to let you assume she says things quietly until I say otherwise.

"Well, not for a while."

She rolled her eyes. "Captivity."

"At least for now."

"What, no duck tape? Why isn't there a bag on my head?" she mused sourly.

I totally got that. "Nah, that's for the white coats to do."

Her eyes got colder, and her jaw stiffened...again. "Where are your happy little friends?"

I paused. "What?"

She scowled. "Flock."

"Not here." I responded.

"Okay. Good." She looked deep in thought, and rubbed her temples gently.

"Why would you say that?"

She turned onto her side to lie down and faced the opposite direction. Okay, way to say something intensely suspicious then completely ignore me. Really makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Her silence really, really, really pisses me off. It's annoying.

I sat there like a statue, watching her carefully. I was pretty sure she was asleep. My eyelids felt droopy, but I wasn't going to let her escape on my watch. So I ended up sitting awake for the entire night. I glanced over at her every few seconds, to make sure she hadn't disappeared.

And I realized I didn't even know her name.

* * *

She woke up the next morning, and greeted me with a glare.

"Breakfast?" I asked softly, and I pulled a sandwich I'd gotten yesterday at a deli out of my bag.

She stared at it for a couple seconds, like she wanted to take it, but because I was giving it to her, it was just _way_ below her dignity. Like she shouldn't have to eat food I gave her.

No, she didn't want any food that I gave her.

"Eat it," I urged, and she swiped it from my hands, and tore off pieces and shoved them in her mouth. As opposed to, say, taking bites. Like a regular person.

"So..." I said softly. What can I say? I'm not a wordy person.

She swallowed the last of the sandwich and folded the wrapper neatly. Her hair had a leaf caught in it, and her black pants were caked with mud.

"I was thinking of going to North Carolina," I mumbled.

She looked at me.

"It would only be a six-hour flight," I continued. "It seems logical to my plans."

"You're telling me because...?" she was still all pokerfaced.

I smirked. "You're coming."

Eye roll. "Okay, well, because _you_ say so," she said sarcastically.

I guess she had a right to be stubborn. "Remember? I captured you."

"So I must agree to your shit stick plan?"

The shock probably didn't register on my face, because I'm cool that way. "Better idea?"

She rolled her eyes. "Drive. The sun is up soon."

I froze. "Why drive?"

Her black hair covered up her one eye, she didn't look very, well, agreeable. "The sun is up soon. I just said that."

Would it kill her to use full sentences? "Yeah, so?"

She put her hands on her hips. "I don't want to be seen."

"Why do you care?"

She rolled her eyes...again. "There's a reason why I don't get hunted as much as your stupid flock."

I think that was the first whole, semi-proper sentence she ever said to me. "You have a car?"

"Oh, yeah," her sarcasm was intense, but her face was still expressionless, "Along with my mansion. It's parked next to my yacht."

She slapped me upside my head. Really hard.

"Look, I'm trying to help you, okay?" I raised my voice a bit.

Her glare bore into my eyes. "I never asked."

"Come on captive." I motioned off with my head, took a couple steps, snapped out my wings, and took off into the sky, feeling that flying-rush. I looked back down.

There was the girl (name still unknown) walking in the opposite direction of me.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

She looked up at me. "I told you I'm not flying. But you can go ahead, have some fun. Send me a postcard if you feel like it."

She kept trudging in the other direction, so naturally I had to follow her. I couldn't force her to fly with me unless I threatened her life. But then she would hate me even more. And it's not like I could drag her or carry her or anything.

So basically I ended up walking approximately fifteen miles with a severely pissed off, but smug bird kid. I was supposed to be in charge, leading and running the stuff. She was giving orders. And the silence made her seem so superior, like I was bowing to her will, following without question.

The scary part was, I didn't know how she had suddenly taken control of the situation, but I didn't like it. I had to get back in control, to make her realize that I was in charge. I was having a real WWMD moment.

So I decided to break the silence.

"So, what's your name?" I asked smoothly.

She looked at me from the corner of her eye. "Kate."

"Did you name yourself?"

"No."

"I did. I got to decide my birthday and everything. Made it up on the spot one day." I said.

She shot me a questioning look. "That's nice."

So she thought I was a total freak. I shrugged. "Whatever Kate."

"That's not my name," she said smoothly.

Ummm, okay. "Then why-"

She laughed. Sort of. It was kind of small, not like she was actually full out laughing, just a slight chuckle. "And you believed me?"

"Good job."

"I really don't try. Name's actually Vic."

"Vic?"

She glared. "I didn't choose it."

"Who did?"

She looked away, in the complete opposite direction to me. "A really stupid fourteen year-old."

Vic (I'm gonna give her the benefit of the doubt for now and believe that's really her name) actually sounded kind of sullen.

Vic had been leading me through a grid of streets for the past ten minutes. As far as I could tell, we were in Jersey City.

"Know your way around?" I asked.

"Not really."

I kept my face expressionless. "So we're walking around for nothing?"

She scowled. "Don't be stupid. I've got a plan."

"Right..."

She just kept walking ahead of me. I realized for the first time that her hair wasn't black, it was really, really dark brown, but you could only tell when the sun caught it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have noticed.

"Okay, I found exactly what we need." she said.

_St. Peter's Preparatory School_

_144 Grand St_

"A...school?" I gave her a puzzled look.

"Not just a school," she smirked, "but a high school."

I looked closer. "All male. Can't enroll you."

She frowned. "Look closer."

I did. "What am I missing?"

"Not only is it an all male high school, but God has gifted us with a _preppy_ all male high school." She walked straight around the side of the building to the parking lot, where a couple of cars were.

"Oh, and we are pretty on time too. Yes, I know, I'm brilliant." She continued.

I didn't say anything. I was too confused by Vic right now to even process the right sarcastic phrase. This girl just annoyed the fuck out of me.

She backed up to the corner, and stared intently at the parking lot. For the first couple minutes, nothing happened. I was ready to do a U and A, but I could leave my little friend here, and there was no was she would leave after she found her little miracle parking lot.

God forbid we leave a preppy, rich-kid school to help save the world. Then cars started pulling up.

The air just reeked with that terrible rich-kid smell. You know, when a bunch of douchey guys get together and you can just smell their... clean-ness? It's sickening.

Vic smiled. "Ah, you can just taste the plaid, khaki, and dress shirts."

"Yes. Lovely." I grimaced.

"Oh, but Fang, you wish you were one of them," she laughed slightly.

"Bite me."

"I just might someday. Or maybe I'd just kill you in your sleep..." she looked deep in thought as if she was actually contemplating it.

I didn't have a response for that. She looked closer. There were several cars pulling into the parking lot now, and a bunch of teenage guys pouring out of them. All the cars were pretty decent. I mean, not a single car had a speck of rust. Most were shiny clean.

Then a car pulled in... a silver Audi TT. Vic's eyes widened. "Jackpot," she whispered.

She ran her fingers through her hair quickly, and walked slowly around the perimeter of the parking lot.

I followed.

The guys stepped out of the car, and I could feel their jerk aura radiating onto me. Vic walked slowly.

The guy pressed a button and the car locked with a _beep!_ while the rest of his friends met up with him.

"And then Rachel just started crying! Like what a whinny bitch! The only reason I don't dump her is because she's so insecure, that she'll do _anything_."

I glared at him. Vic walked into the school a couple steps behind them and followed them into the school. I trailed behind her.

"What are you doing?" I whispered to her.

"Just follow my lead."

Then she ran into the guy who seemed to be the biggest asshole of them all.

"I'm sorry!" she gushed as she backed away shyly. Or at least it seemed that way.

He peered at her. "Um, can I help you?"

She smiled, and it almost looked...genuine. But I saw straight past that. What was she doing?

"Well," she looked all innocent, "I'm looking for my old friend. I think he goes here."

"Really," he mumbled, looking to escape her. In fact, he looked at her with a bit of disgust, her dusty black clothes and messy hair was just too dirty for him and his high standards.

My hands clenched a bit, basically because he was acting as if she was shit for no good reason, and Vic noticed too, but she just nodded at him.

"Well, what's your name?" he asked her stepping away a bit.

She brushed her dark hair over her shoulder. "Jessica. Jessica Frenette."

"Okay. What's your friend's name?"

She smiled. "Mike Darwin."

The guy looked around anxiously. "Well I'll look around for him. I'll tell him to call you or something."

She fakes excitement very well. "Thank you so much!"

"Ditch the hobo chick," his friends muttered under his breath.

Leader guy started to turn away. "I really gotta go."

He is such a tool. Suck a freakin tool.

"Bye!" she smiled ever so sweetly at him. He and his friends walked farther into the school, and Vic lost the smile. "God, what a douchebag."

"What the fuck was that whole thing for?" I growled at her.

She looked into my eyes, and shook her right arm a bit, and a pair of car keys slid down from her sleeve into her hand.

"Wanna Drive?" she smirked.

* * *

**Since Fang's a guy and I'm... not, so I'm sorry if I suck at putting things in his perspective:(**

**Please review! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Don't really have anything to say, except thanks to all who reviewed!**

**Highlight of the day (there is always a highlight of the day with me): The icecream truck was driving through the neighbourhood, but I didn't have any money. So pickpocketed my boyfriend while giving him a hug. I love icecream sandwiches.**

The car ride was generally quiet. Until Vic plugged her iPod into the car and started to blare her music.

"How did you even get an iPod?" I asked her over the noise. Traffic was going at an okay pace on the highway, and I was changing lanes.

"Bought it," she shrugged.

"How?"

She raised an eyebrow at me. "With money?"

"How'd you have enough money?" I asked her.

She paused for a second. "I earned it. I had a job."

"What kind of job?"

She turned the music up louder. We drove for a long time in silence. I wasn't really doing well with this kid. Plus we were driving. Plus she's really annoying, like she'll say something suspicious then shut the fuck up all of a sudden without another word. Who does that?

A car pulled in front of me as traffic slowed.

We waited for ten minutes. Then twenty minutes. Then thirty minutes. If we were flying, we would've been through this area 29 minutes ago, but noooo, we had to drive.

"Fuck, I hate cars," I said under my breath.

"I'll drive, if it's so upsetting." Vic said from my right side. She was resting with her head leaned back against the seat and her eyes closed.

_What the hell, she's already in charge of the whole thing,_ I thought, and I undid the seat belt. "Fine, you drive. I hate it."

We both got out and switched sides. Traffic was at a standstill. We could _walk_ through this faster.

She sat in the front seat, adjusted the seat to her height, fixed the mirrors, and drummed her fingers against the steering wheel, staring at the road.

"So," I said quietly. Max had always been so much better at this talking stuff. Like, she actually could get people to talk about themselves and their feelings. I don't get it.

"Gonna say something buddy?" Vic asked sarcastically.

I glared at her. "Let's play a game,"

"No," she answered quickly.

I sighed. "It's not really a game. I tell you something about me, you tell me something about you."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like I need to know about you."

I pressed on anyways. "I ditched my flock about half a year ago. It was the right thing to do."

She gave me a skeptical look.

"Your turn," I told her.

She looked thoughtful. "I'm a girl. You go."

Ummm, okay. "I was born at the School, with the evil scientists."

"I have wings," she said plainly.

"I've only been to the hospital once before.."

She paused. "I'm wearing black clothes."

"Tell me something I don't know," I said quietly in my most patient tone, but I was getting frustrated.

She glanced at me. "Well, you didn't exactly explain that before, did you?"

I almost growled. "Isn't it kind of obvious?"

She shrugged. "It's not like I'm a mind reader, definitely not like the little girl in your flock."

I blinked in surprise. "Angel?"

"Yeah the bitchy, little one that's gonna be a huge cunt when she gets older."

"How do you know that?" I asked, keeping my voice even.

She shrugged. "I know everything."

"Really?"

Signature eye roll. "It appears to be your turn."

I stared at her, my face surely blank of expression, but my mind was reeling. Because she could actually be telling the truth about knowing everything.

With us mutant bird children, you just never know.

I could ask her about it. I could press her for details. I could interrogate her and know the full extent of her knowledge on the flock. Was I going to? It seemed like a pointless mission. She'd probably say something like, 'everyone in your flock is part bird' in order to piss me off.

So I let it slide. "Well," I said, "I haven't slept in a bed for over a month."

She frowned. "I was hoping you'd give up on this whole thing."

I shrugged.

She groaned. "Okay, you want to know stuff about me? I'm a mutant who doesn't like people or other mutants. I am extremely good at pick-pocketing-- well you already know that, how else would we have a car? -- and I can text 54 words a minute. I can create an awkward silence in any situation I want, bend almost anyone to my will, I always get my way, I'm an unbelievably talented actor, and a fantastic liar. Plus, I'm unbelievably modest."

I blinked in amazement. Lots of words there. "Anything else to add?" I joked.

"I have a permanent heart shaped scar on my ass," she said ever so matter-of-factly.

I raised an eyebrow.

She glared at me. "I sat on a cookie cutter when I was twelve."

I smirked.

She shot me the bird.

I rolled my eyes at her.

"I'm getting food," she said, pulling off onto the closest exit. Signs for different fast-food stores filled my vision.

Vic glanced around at buildings. "I'm so craving some Baconators and Frosties."

She pulled up into a _Wendy's_ drive thru and went up to the ordering machine.

"Welcome to Wendy's. What would you like to order?" the box asked.

Vic looked at the menu board. "Three baconator triple combos with large fries and frosties," she replied, and then looked at me. "What do you want?"

I spoke up. "Two of those crispy chicken sandwich combos with fries and large cokes."

The box lady didn't say anything for a couple of seconds. "Um okay, come up to window one to get your order."

Vic drove the car up to window one.

The lady in the window stared at us with wide eyes for a few seconds, and then glanced into the back of the car to check if there were any other passengers. "Are you sure you can eat all this food?" she asked with concern.

Vic smiled sweetly. "Oh, yeah. We were just on our way to a friend's house, and they wanted us to pick up stuff for everyone. Thank god we have similar taste, or I could never remember the order!"

She sounded so honest.

The lady inside smiled, then handed over the bags of food. "Head up to window two to pay."

Vic nodded. "Thank you."

I rolled my eyes at her as she drove up.

"Playing the saint much?" I smirked.

Her eyes widened. "What do you mean? I _am_ a saint."

The guy at the paying window gave us a look. "That will be $35.99 in total."

Vic looked at me. "Money?"

I stared at her in disbelief. "Me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes you. You wouldn't want your captive to die of hunger, would you?" she said in a low voice, so only I could hear.

I almost growled. I reached into my pocket and pulled out two twenties, then handed it to the guy.

He took in and gave back four dollar bill and a penny, which Vic took quickly and stashed in her pocket. "Thanks!" she said to the guy as she drove off.

"Um, money?" I asked her in that oh-so-patient tone of mine.

"Yeah, I know, I've got it. Don't worry, he didn't rip us off."

I glared at her. "Can I have it?"

"It's already in my pocket."

She drove through the roads like a pro. I stared at her. "Where are we going?"

"I dunno. Somewhere we can eat without people staring at us."

After a couple more minutes, she pulled up to a public park, which was mostly abandoned. So she found a spot underneath a tree, and grabbed the food. We ate in total silence, and I noticed Vic doing that weird thing where she rips the food into pieces before eating it.

As soon as she was done, she grabbed her backpack from the backseat and walked out of the car.

I watched her carefully, you know, in case she started to make a break for it, but instead she pulled two rectangular sheets out of her bag, along with a screw driver.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

She walked to the front of the car. "Switching the plates."

"Why the fuck do you have spare license plates _in your backpack_?"

"For situations like this? Look, within an hour or so, someone's going to file a missing car report for a silver Audi TT with the license plate BABE MAG, so we can't have that license plate on the car, now can we?"

I stared at her. "You prepare for this type of situation?"

She shrugged smugly. "I'm ready for anything because I'm amazingly brilliant."

I gave her the finger, but she ignored it as she switched up the license plates. She took the old ones and stuffed them in her bag. "There, perfect."

I didn't say anything, but she made her way back to the driver's seat, and started up the engine. As soon as the car turned on, her music started blaring, and she smiled.

She's in a good mood. Probably a good time to ask questions. "So, are you from the School?"

She reversed the car out of the parking spot, and turned onto a small side road. "Nope."

"The Institute in New York?"

"Nope."

"Itex headquarters?" I asked.

"Nope."

"So, where are you from?"

She turned back onto the highway. "EGRC."

Didn't ring a bell.

She rolled her eyes. "Experimental Genetic Research Center. It's in Montana."

"Never heard of it."

She smirked. "Obviously."

I should've punched her. "How old are you?"

She didn't answer. Instead she turned the music up as loud as possible, almost bursting my sensitive ear drums. She however, was smiling.

"Music too loud for you?" she said smugly.

Then the song changed

_Face down; this is where it leads you  
Too far, buried covered now  
You'll find peace at the earth aground_

_Stop now, there's no point in breathing  
It's not allowed on the surface  
How can you find, reason to move on_

_Until then you can runaway  
Do your best to hide your face  
And oh I know you best  
I know you get what you get  
You get what you deserve  
_

Vic shut off the music hastily, her jaw in a tight line.

"You okay?" I asked her.

She glared at me. "Shut up."

Time passed in awkward silence. She was completely tense, but at the same time she had that look in her eyes as if someone had just sucker punched her. I didn't get it. At all. Was this some sort of girl thing?

"Fifteen," she said suddenly, and I blinked in shock.

"What?"

"You asked me how old I was," she said calmly, as if I'd asked her five seconds ago, instead of say, an hour ago.

"Okay. Me too."

We passed a sign that told us we were entering Virginia. We would have been so far past this point if we had flown. As it is though, we've only made it to Virginia and the sun just went down. I'm not a patient person, and being cooped up in a car was making me feel itchy. Especially since I was cooped up in a car with an annoying, weird girl. It was enough to drive a person crazy.

"You can go to sleep while I drive," Vic said.

I shook my head.

She scowled. "Let me rephrase this. You'll go to sleep now, and then as soon as I get tired I wake your sorry ass up, and you'll drive. Comprende?"

"Since when do you call the shots?" I growled at her.

She smirked. "What do you mean? I've always called the shots."

I raised an eyebrow. "If you called the shots, would you be here right now captive?"

She faltered. "No. I'd be in Ohio."

"Why Ohio?"

"New places to go, new sights to see. I'm gonna travel the entire country, then I'll be making my way to Europe."

"I wanna go to Paupa New Guinea. Somewhere totally different."

We were on some quiet road. No one else was in sight, which was weird.

I didn't like this, opening up stuff. Where I told her things about myself I wouldn't tell anyone else. But she's weird like that, like she doesn't care about what I say anyways so I could tell her anything. Plus, I was supposed to try and connect with her, get her to trust me. It was part of the plan.

"Do you trust me?" she said quietly.

I didn't expect to hear that from her.

"Answer quickly!" she snarled.

I shrugged. "I dunno. I met you, like 22 hours ago. You trust me?"

She shrugged. "I know everything about you, and you're not trying to kill me or anything. So I guess I kind of do, you know? But do _you_ trust me?"

I shrugged, giving in. "I guess, sorta."

She smiled. "Okay, so don't argue with me, no matter what you think right now, okay?"

I regretted saying I trusted her. "What?!"

She suddenly swerved off of the road, and into the ditch, hitting the gas pedal sharply. The wheels started turning and we took off through a forest. Fast.

Vic steered through the tree and one of the rear-view mirrors broke off against a tree. The side of the car scraped another tree, and I was tightly gripping my seatbelt.

"What are you doing!?" I yelled at her, but she ignored me completely as she pulled off a hairpin turn, and sped off in a different direction.

"Grab the backpacks!" she yelled at me, and I stared at her, dumb-founded.

I cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Do it now!" she yelled again, nearly shattering my eardrums.

I did as she said, while she opened the sunroof all the way.

"Put it on."

I slung both backpacks onto my back. The trees were becoming thinner and there was more open space.

"Grab the wheel hold it in a general straight direction, but avoid trees."

I took the wheel from her hands as she bent down momentarily. My heart was racing. _What the fuck was going on?_

Vic sat up quickly. "Hand me my backpack."

I did, and she slung it on and took the wheel.

"Okay," she stated calmly, "climb out of the sunroof and jump. Spread your wings and get really high."

"What-"

"Just do it!" she ordered.

I undid my seatbelt and climbed through the hole, then jumped off the roof of the car, flying up as fast as possible.

I looked back down, and saw Vic flying up after me. The car was still driving, headed straight for a lake.

Oh.

_Splash!_

Vic shrugged. "Hope they had insurance."

I just stared at her. "What was that all about?" I complained harshly

She pushed me. Hard. "I just saved you from a fight, probably captivity, and possibly your life, so you should be pretty damn thankful!"

I stared at her, not letting the shock/confusion reach my face. "What?"

She sighed. "Erasers set up along the highway, they were following us. I took onto a smaller road hoping so confuse them, but it didn't work. They were ready for that though, and had a group ready to ambush us near to Richmond. So I went into the woods, ditched the car at the bottom of a lake, and so they'll be waiting for a silver Audi TT that's not coming, giving us at least two hours. They'll eventually find the car tracks in the woods though, they'll realize that we left the car, and they'll look for something else. In which case, they're really looking for a blue minivan, yeah that works. A Dodge Caravan with a DVD player... " she was talking to herself now.

"How do you know this?" I interrupted.

"They discussed the plan in a group a few hours ago." She said, as though were obvious.

"How do you know _that_!" Clearly she wasn't getting my point.

"Shhh, give me a minute."

She closed her eyes tightly, and put her hands to her temples, the way Max...the way Max did whenever the voice was talking to her. In fact, they did it the exact same way.

I fly next to her, and watched her jaw clench, then loosen, then tighten again.

Her eyes snapped open.

I raised an eyebrow.

She smirked, like she had a little personal joke. "I just bought us a couple more hours. Come on."

She took off in a general south direction, the starlight highlighting her wings.

Jet black, just like mine.

**Review, or the Pillsbury Dough Boy will come and poke you in your sleep.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey people!**

**Highlight of the Day:**** Today I told my therapist that I was in that kill myslef mood today. She didn't seem to take this as a problem. She's the best (No sarcasm).**

"We need to sleep," Vic stated quietly. We'd been flying for about an hour and it was past midnight.

"Um, yeah."

"Got a plan?" she asked me.

The funny thing was, I didn't. I didn't have enough money to rent a hotel, and we need food, so I figured that we were just going to sleep in a tree or something when we got there.

"Well?" she snapped me out of my thought process.

I could lie to her, but I'm sure she'd figure out I was being dishonest. "Not an exact one."

"Great, cause I do," she smirked and shot ahead of me in the sky, doing a couple of twirls and dips.

I stared at her. "Okay, what's this plan?"

"Well, I have somewhere we can go. A place to sleep, there are computers if you want to research, food, and someone who's willing to do anything to help."

I didn't trust her. "Someone who's willing to do anything to help? No offense, but that sounds like a trap."

She scowled. "I wouldn't do that to you... well, at least not while you have money in your pockets."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I growled.

She looked impassive. "People are like natural resources. You use them up, and then you leave and find a new source that supplies the same stuff."

Right, so she's using me. "Love the honesty!" I called over to her.

"I'm one straight up bitch," she shrugged, "so I have a natural resource that I left behind. He's a connection...I have lots of those. Pretty much one in every state. You should pick up on these lessons I'm teaching you; you might learn something about survival."

I rolled my eyes at her as she swooped down over a park, and landed next to a tree. I followed after her.

"Hmm, today's a Friday, right?"

I thought for a second, then nodded.

"Well that's just great!" she beamed, then grabbed my arm to drag me around. I felt so whipped.

"Who's this connection? Someone trustworthy?"

I shrugged. "He's slow, stupid. I lived at his house for two weeks or so."

"Why?"

She gave me a look that made me feel stupid. "Didn't I just give you the speech on natural resources?"

"Oh, so you just use him."

She bit her lip. "Something along those lines."

"So you've used, possibly reused, people in almost every state?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yep. Gotten shelter clothes, food, and stolen some money and items while I was at it." She didn't seem one bit upset.

"Got no morals? You steal from all these people who give you things without any form guilt?" I asked her.

She seemed thoughtful for a second. "Pretty much."

"Karma, karma. What goes around comes around." I lectured.

"Karma's a bitch," she smirked, "I'm an even bigger one. My survival comes before everything. Which means maybe that guy will lose $100 from his pocket, but I can eat dinner. Maybe that person got their train tickets stolen and they can't go on vacation, but the Eraser's can't catch me as I score another point against Itex, which helped against their world destruction plans. Sure, those people lost something, and maybe they were disappointed for a while, but they didn't really need it...I did. And maybe they`ll be the tiniest bit shook up. Like, _oh no, someone stole from us_ but honestly, they can deal. If I can handle being brought up in a dog crate a hunted every day of my life, then they can deal with being a little more cautious. "

"So you take it?"

"I know how their minds work. A month afterward, they don't even care anymore. It's history and they've got something new. Welcome to America Fang."

I thought about it. She actually made some sense, and I've put my own survival ahead. "Me and the flock did that sometimes, but wow, every state?"

"You don't get it. It's me against the world. I'm alone. I've got no one who would ever cover my back in a fight. So I play dirty to win." She had an insane glint of anger in her eyes, even though her face expressed no emotion.

I wanted to push her over the edge, to see her reaction, but at the same time, I felt sort of bad for her. I mean, I've been separated from the flock for about half a year which sucks, but she's got no one. "You don't have any friends or anything?"

Her gaze lowered, and she looked like a stabbed her. The rage was gone, replaced with some emotion I couldn't identify. "No."

"Really, never?"

"No."

I interpreted that to mean that it was a sensitive area with her, so I dropped it. "Where are we going?"

She didn't respond for a couple of minutes, just dragged me along. She pulled me into an alleyway beside a pizza shop. There were teenagers inside, eating and having fun.

"What kind of pizza shop is open after midnight?" I asked her.

"A sketchy one."

Vic shut her eyes tightly and pressed her fingers to her temples.

A couple moments later I heard the door to the pizza store (haha, rhymes) open. "We're closed now!" the guy, who I assumed was an employee, yelled.

Laughter and talking filled my ears, and Vic gave me a look. _Wait for it._

A couple kids passed by us, and then some more. When it seemed they'd all gone by, Vic pulled my arm and we were walking down the sidewalk, like regular people. I heard some guys exit the shop, laughing while the owner was cussing at them.

"Dude, that was hilarious!" one yelled out. I was tempted to look at them.

"Don't turn back, don't look," Vic whispered to me, "just keep walking. Don't freak out, okay? That would make me look bad."

I scowled at her and she smirked.

"Dude, isn't that that girl?" one of them whispered.

"What girl?"

Vic bit her lip.

"You know, the one who sold me that amazing weed."

I raised an eyebrow at her. She glared.

"Holy shit," another replied, then he stepped forward of them. "Hey, bad girl!"

Vic rolled her eyes, but didn't turn around.

The guy continued. "Bad girl, where've you been?"

I shot Vic a questioning look and mouthed _bad girl?_ to her, but she shrugged a little bit, and didn't turn around.

"Hey Bree, can I have your number? Can I have it? Could I please receive the secret code, which if entered telephonically would lead me to you, which would—"

Vic turned around with a bright smile on her face. "Eric!" she screamed with false happiness as she threw her arms around him in a hug. He was maybe an inch taller than she was, and she was approximately 5'10'' or 5'11''. He had sandy blonde hair that was cropped short and blue eyes.

"Brianna Heart. Most rebellious chick I've ever met." So called "Eric" told her.

Vic put on an innocent expression. "Most rebellious chick?"

He grinned. "The only one who lights fire crackers in the hallway, tells the teacher to suck her dick, carries a knife on her waist, drugs in her bag, and downs some vodka during history class because the teacher told her to do whatever it took for her to behave."

I stared at her, but she wasn't paying attention to me. Instead she got a far off look in her eyes. "Those were the days..."

Eric looked her up and down. "Me and the guys just left the usual place, and I was heading home. Where are you staying?"

Vic looked shy and embarrassed. "Well, I haven't really got any plans. I was thinking about a motel or something. I have a friend here," she pulls my arm, bringing me forward, "and we've been heading around to different places, not really sure at we're gonna do to sleep and eat or anything. We'll find a place to sleep and a 24-hour McDonald's or something."

Eric straightened up. "You could stay at my place again. Both of you. The 'rents are out for the weekend in Vegas."

"Oh no, I couldn't do that to you! I mean, you've already done so much for me before, and—"

"No really, it's fine!" Eric assured her quickly, "And this time you won't sleep in my closet at all, I swear!"

Vic laughed. "Oh thanks! God it smelled in there!"

He raked his eyes over her hungrily. "Yeah, come on."

Vic walked between me and Eric as she explained where she'd been over the past months. Apparently she'd gone to live with her mom in California while her dad was on a business trip in China (they're divorced), and then her mom freaked out on her for having bad language, not co-operating, and being rude. She was shipped to a private school, but she got out of there as soon as the school year was over and moved to Illinois with her dad, where she got along pretty well. She's got the badass reputation at school and her teachers totally hate her but she doesn't give two shits. A couple months ago she met me (we were stuck in detention) and ever since we've been in the sketchy group of kids at school. Recently we went on a road trip to get away from the pressure of life. We're meeting up with some friends in South Carolina for a beach vacation.

It was such an intricate lie, that no human could even remember it two seconds later. She really was seriously good at this lying stuff.

Eric smiled. "Oh yeah! I remember how pumped you were to see your mom for the first time since you were five. You told me you were heading for Cali last year in January."

I froze for a second. How on earth did she remember a lie for so long?

Vic smiled. "Yeah. Oh, by the way, this is Kevin," she pulled me up in front of her for a second.

Eric stuck out a hand. "Nice to meet you dude."

I stared at his hand, desperately wanting him to take it away, but when he didn't I reluctantly shook it.

Vic slapped my arm, in a seemingly playful manner, but it hurt a little bit. "Kevin isn't very social."

Eric leaned in closer over her. "S'cool."

Vic swished her hair out of her face a bit, but it fell into place less than a second later. "Oh, here it is!"

Eric took out some keys and unlocked the front door, letting us in. I looked around, checking my exits. Front windows, front doors. Garage door (I'm pretty sure it's remote controlled) back door, and huge ceiling to floor windows at the east side of the house. I could run through those if necessary.

The house was pretty decent. Better than most places I've slept. Beige walls were covered with paintings and family photographs, vases with flowers on little side tables, huge T.V. with an X-box and PS3.

Eric led us up the stairs. "Bree, you can stay in my sister's room again if you want. She's out at college, and Kevin, you can hit the guest room."

She yawned dramatically. "Can I use a shower or something?"

He smiled. "You can use the one in the guest room. I'll get you a towel."

"You wouldn't believe how thankful I am. You're the best Eric." She beamed at him as she pulled him around her tightly in a hug. "I'm sorry I smell so bad Eric."

He breathed her in as he ran his hand up her side. Oh god, I was about to barf. I didn't need to be a mind reader to figure out what was going through his mind, and those thoughts were not PG-14 rated, let me tell you that.

Vic pulled away from him and walked towards the last room in the hall while Eric walked downstairs. As soon as he was out of earshot she dropped the smile and almost made retching noises.

"God that sucked," she shook her head in disgust.

I shot her a questioning look. "How do you know this guy?"

"He was my chemistry partner one day."

"Like, at a school?"

She nodded. "It was pizza for lunch that day, so I did was I do best. Pretended I didn't have any money and got someone to buy me pizza. That guy was Eric. And he was so much of a horny little—sap that I went into his chemistry class as his partner for the day and made an explosion. He decided I could stay at his place while I didn't have home. I was _moving to California_."

"Oh."

She carried her bag towards what I assumed was the washroom. "I'm going to shower, and you're going to shower afterwards. It's easier for the Erasers to track you by satellite when the crowd parts like the Red sea because of your smell."

Then she shut the door. I surveyed my surroundings, and a couple minutes later, I heard the shower start. There was something different about her. Something she was telling me. God, I didn't even know if Vic was her real name! I knew befriending a bird kid was going to be difficult, but jeez, she's just confusing and annoying. I mean, how the hell did she know about the Erasers on the road?

Was she just playing me? Confusing me with a bunch of lies until I came to believe it was the truth, and I never would really understand her?

I really wish it were Max. I could talk to Max, she would open up to me. I'm missing my other half, my best friend, the girl I'd give everything for.

Being the better person fucking sucks. Just honestly, purely—

Eric walked into the room, and I examined every move he made passively. He placed a couple of towels on the edge of the bed, and sat next to me.

"Hey," he said, then motioned towards the bathroom door with his head, "Did you fuck her?"

Vomit. It almost came up my throat. God, Vic? She's like, the most annoying, least pleasant girl in my life. Why the hell would I--- oh shit Fang, hold it down.

"What?!" I replied.

He was dead serious. "Dude, did you fuck Bree?"

"No dude, never. Why the fuck would you ask me that?"

He looked deep in thought. "Last time she came around, she practically reeked of virgin, but not anymore."

"Oh. Well, I dunno 'bout that." I responded.

"God I want to fuck her. You know, wishful thinking. Maybe she'll let me, I dunno. She seems a little less uptight then last time. Back then I couldn`t touch her leg without her threatening to kill me. I can't understand anything she does." He smiled. "You get that, right?"

What a dick. No, asshole. "Yeah, I do man," I lied through my teeth, my jaw in a tight line. I heard the shower turn off in the distance, but my head almost hurt. Did he think he could just use her like that?

"Where the fuck's my towel!?" Vic yelled from the bathroom, and I got up to hand it to her. She opened the door just the slightest crack, stuck her arm out, grabbed the towel, then closed it back.

I sat next to Eric for second as I tried to hide my disgust as her stared at the bathroom door.

Vic stepped out a couple seconds later with some sweatpants on and a black t-shirt that said _Cartel_ on the front. "Done."

Eric got up and walked over her, undressing her with his eyes. "Classic Brianna look; black sweatpants and baggy surprise."

She shrugged. "That's how I roll."

The phone started to ring, and Eric stepped back. "I'll go get that, and I'll be right back."

Vic shook her head. "I'm going to bed now. I'm exhausted."

He looked disappointed, giving her one last hug. "Goodnight," he whispered before darting down the stairs to get the phone.

I went through my bag for some clothes. "He wants you," I said plainly while pulling out a T-shirt, and Vic was going through her huge back pack.

"Hmm? Oh I know," she said impassively. She took a black hair brush out of her bag and ran it through her dark, damp hair.

I glanced up at her in shock. "He _really _wants you, like wants to be in your –"

"I know."

I was purely dumb-founded. Were all girls like this? "This doesn't bother you at all?"

She nodded her head. "It does, but I depended on it for supplies and everything. I depended on it for two weeks of my life over a year ago, and I left as soon as it became an actual issue."

"You let him do things for you because he wanted to fuck you? That's low," I commented, while she turned on me looking downright murderous.

"It's about survival. I do whatever it takes. And this was what it took. Consider yourself lucky that you're not a girl, because in all honesty, we have it so much worse."

She began to walk out the door, but I picked up her backpack, which was heavy as hell. It must of weighed at least 45 pounds, which was about half her weight.

"Here you go your majesty," I said sarcastically as I handed it to her.

As she took it from me she delivered a quick, hard kick towards my stomach, catching me off guard. I fell to my knees in pain for a second.

She smirked. "Night bitch."

**Review please!**


	5. Chapter 5

I decided me and Vic shared a love/hate relationship. Except it's a little bit more like 99%_ hate_ and 1% _you're okay...sometimes_ sort of thing.

It had been three days since we left North Carolina where we stayed with Eric and we were headed towards Alabama. Vic's flying wasn't as awkward as before, and now that she was streaming in front of me, the sunlight catching her wings, I noticed they weren't black, but a really dark brown you could mistake for black at any second. Her wings described her personality perfectly. Deceptive. Dark.

She twirled through the air before falling back to meet me.

"Hi," she muttered.

I glanced over at her. I always kept a close watch on her, but she hadn't tried to run away from me at all. Or kill me, which is good.

"Hi," I responded quietly.

"What's the deal with you?" she asked impassively, as if she had asked me what I thought of the weather.

"What?"

She bit her lip. "Why'd you leave your flock?"

"Oh, I thought you already knew that considering you know everything about me." I retorted quickly.

She shrugged. "I do. But I want to hear what you have to say about it. Don't lie about it, I could tell if you were lying."

I swallowed. _She'd know if I was lying._ If it was anyone else, I would've shaken it off, not believing them at all. But not with Vic. She's different. She just _knows_ when I lie, and she's scary like that.

"Well, this new douche bag bird kid named Dylan came into our lives. His manufacturer was a total evil scientist, but we let Dylan stay with us anyways. He was too much of a sap to even know how to lie, it was pathetic, but people kept saying that by being around the flock, I was endangering it. I didn't completely understand. Then all the other kids in the flock got mad because Max and I were..."

I paused awkwardly for a couple of seconds. What were Max and I? Boyfriend/girlfriend? We'd never gotten to actually putting a label on it.

"Together," Vic filled in.

I nodded uncomfortably. "Then Max and I were never focused, and she needed to be focused to be a good leader and save the world, so I left. I didn't want to make things bad for them."

Vic nodded slowly. "I knew it all before, but it's better to hear you say it."

That was it. _She knew it all before?_ What the hell! How had she known it all before?

"How on earth did you know?" I asked, but my voice had a hostile, threatening undertone.

"It doesn't matter," she whispered.

I had rage bottled up inside me. It's creepy. At least when Angel was saying stuff straight out of my mind, I knew _why_. I had no idea where all of this information was coming from, but it was scaring me. Like in _she'll slit my throat at night or something_, because she's unpredictable. It's like she knows my life story, but I don't know squat about her. It's fucking frustrating. Like I had to constantly struggle to keep up with her while she was ten steps ahead.

"I'm not sorry," she said.

I blinked. "Sorry for what?"

"Pissing you off."

I shot her the bird.

She smiled. "It's second nature, everything I do. I don't think, just do. I make myself several steps ahead cause to survive I always have to be ahead of the game; the whitecoats' game. So instead of me running their circles, they are running in mine. Everything I do is instinct now. Hell, half the time I'm on autopilot! Well, not so much in the past few days, but whatever. I mean, I deserve it, I hate being trapped in my mind, because of my thoughts..." There she goes again, talking to herself.

I cocked an eyebrow. "Autopilot?" I prompted.

She immediately noticed her mistake. She looked at me with her dark eyes. No, I already knew she wouldn't tell me, she always says weird things then clams up.

"You could consider it a skill. I'm not sure," she says after a few seconds.

"A skill?"

She nodded. "Kind of like how you can turn sorta invisible and one can read minds and Max can fly at super speed."

"What can you do?" I inquired, ignoring the fact she knew all of the flock's special talents.

"It's hard to explain, but I can separate my mind from my body in a way. Like, I'm still responding to questions and acting normal and having conversations, so I'm there, but _I'm _not _there_."

I shook my head. "You lost me."

"Well, while my body is functioning, my mind, my thoughts are completely secluded from whatever is going on. I'm totally zoned out, but it's like my conscious is doing everything I do. When I zone back in, everything that happened to me while I was on autopilot is played to me like a message, and I'm completely aware of everything that happened."

I nodded. Well that was....weird.

"I know it's not really a skill, but it's useful in torture and stuff because my mind is so far away I can't feel the pain, and I'm not going to go insane. I used it so much when I was really little and I was at the lab. So I couldn't feel the injections and the stuff they put me through. It was just me with my thoughts and I didn't see them."

I think this is the most she's ever opened up to me. "I was ten when this guy named Jeb—"

"I hate Jeb," she interrupted.

"You know him?" I asked.

She nodded. "I hate him."

"What did he do to you?"

She shook her head, and pressed her fingers to her temples. "He made my life suck. He hated my guts from the time I was first experimented on in my mom's stomach."

"Why?" I asked. I know Jeb is kind of twisted, but why would he hate this girl? You know, except for the obvious annoying problems. I thought he was all for DNA experimentation on children.

She looked down. "It's a long stupid story. I want to shoot him in the head, but not before I get the satisfaction of him knowing I'm alive."

I shot her a questioning look.

"The last time he saw me, he looked as if her shit his pants because he never thought I would survive as long as his experiments. He was sure I was dead. Thought I would last a day after I got out of the lab. Hell, he thought I was just another stupid unsuccessful experiment who couldn't survive in the lab." She spat, and it fell down through the sky.

"Why?"

Her face turned darker. "He thought that I was inferior to someone else. He didn't think it was even possible I could've been as successful or more than that person, so he shot me down. Always had something bad to say about me. _She doesn't have enough fight in her_; _she's a sap, look at how she just gives in._ He didn't get that I was playing every scientist in that place, making them think I was a little angel. Then shit happened and I was put in isolation, then I eventually got out of that place."

"How old were you when escaped?" I asked her keenly.

"Five."

I actually was shocked. "Five?"

"Mmhmm."

"Did anyone take care of you or anything? And how did you get out?"

She stared ahead of us into the now setting sun. It cast an orangey-pink glow across her olive skin. "I got out on my own, and I took care of myself."

"I get it. When Jeb left us behind, the flock had to learn to take care of themselves. We didn't have a parent to help us with cooking or child care, Max pretty much protected us without any help and..."

I stopped because her hands were curling into fists and her jaw was set in a tight line. She shook her head. "You don't get it. You don't get it at all."

"What—"

"How did you learn to fly?" she interjected.

I thought it was a trick question. I wasn't sure how to answer, but eventually I replied "Jeb taught us how. But—"

"And how did you learn to fight?"

"Jeb taught us how to."

"That's right, so you don't get it. You don't get what it's like to be me." She snarled.

I was speechless for a moment. "How are you so sure?"

She glared so darkly at me that if were an average human, I might have dropped dead from fright.

But luckily I'm a genetically-enhanced Avian American.

With my raptor vision, I was able to notice the slightest change in her expression. She still had the glare going, but underneath she was something else. _Broken._

"You don't get what it's like. You had someone there to show you the ropes. Teach you to fly, to read, to fight, to survive, to cook somewhat. You were ten. When I was five years old, I was tossed onto the streets on my own. I learned how to do everything I can do the hard way. The painful way. You learned to street fight by having someone instruct you. I learned to street fight by actually _fighting on the street to save my life._ So don't say you get it. You most definitely _don't_."

She charged off ahead of me into the dark sky. The sun had set, and the slight orange glow rested above the horizon.

I didn't try to go and talk to her, so I stayed behind, watching her from a 50 yard distance, trying to process everything she'd said. So she knew about Jeb, in fact, I'm sure the whitecoats all knew each other. You know, sat down for group dinners and talked about the children they injected and share their new torture methods. Regular stuff like that.

I was missing a big piece of the story though. Why on earth would Jeb want to tear her down?

Vic was dropping in altitude and I followed her as she landed in the parking lot behind a sketchy motel.

She was ignoring me. She walked around the building and entered through the front door, me close behind her.

"I need a room," she said plainly to the receptionist.

The girl behind the desk looked up at Vic, then her eyes settled on me. "Room for two?"

"Yes," I said quietly. "With two beds."

Receptionist lady nodded, but she shot Vic a look I couldn't interpret.

Vic narrowed her eyes. "Oh, him? Are you serious?"

Receptionist cocked an eyebrow. "Two beds? Seems like a cover up."

Was this some sort of girl code language, because I didn't understand it. At all.

"Please," Vic said, "I'm not ashamed of anything. If I was going to, I would ask for one bed bitch. I mean, you've seen me do it before."

Receptionist bobbed her head. "New one every couple of days."

I was genuinely confused.

Vic smirked. "Yeah. I hate this one, but he's a family friend."

I was just taking a wild guess, but I'm assuming _this one _is me.

Receptionist smiles as she hands her a key. "Have less fun than you normally do."

Vic grabbed my arm viciously and dragged me down out the door, and we head up the stairs and walked towards the room. 214.

Vic unlocked the door and went to the far side of the room. I went to the closest bed and sat down on the edge. Vic headed to the bathroom to take a shower. I pulled a newspaper I'd grabbed this morning out of my backpack. I went through pages. My eyes landed on an article titled _Bird Kids Sighted_

I was suddenly more alert as I read the article.

_The "Flock" of avian- human hybrids was spotted over Oregon yester afternoon. From this photo you can see the six flock members. The last time we spotted the famous Bird children was over a month ago in Los Angeles, California. We'll be keeping our eyes open for any other sightings._

"Oh Maximum," Vic sighed from behind me. I hadn't heard her sneak up on me. "You continue to fuck up my life."

I shot her a quizzical look.

"Don't give me that look," she stated as she ran through her bag.

"What has she ever done to you?!" I asked defensively. I can't help it; I'm always defensive of Max.

She glares at me. "You know what? She's done a lot. All of you and your stupid flock have messed up my life more than once in so many ways. It's not my fault that you're all so stupid! Yet for some reason I always am affected by your actions."

I was taken aback. "I'm sorry, what did we do? We lived? Was that too much for you? Too much of an inconvenience?"

"You always were getting caught in pictures; the bird kids were always being sighted. So I couldn't fly around as much. People were constantly looking through the skies for a large set of wings, and so I gave up flying for long periods of time. When I say long, I mean up to eight months."

"Oh, okay, you didn't want to fly because you didn't want to be seen. Do you think we wanted to be seen?" I sneered at her.

"You know what? You had each other, so if you got caught, it would be easier to escape. I was fucking alone! I never had back up so I had to take every precaution because when it came down to it, there was no one I could rely on! I know what it's like to have someone there with you in a battle, and it's so much easier than being completely alone!"

"You know what it's like to have someone in fight with you. Tell me, why aren't they with you now?! Did you piss them off too much?"

As soon as it leaves my mouth, I regret it. I wish I could take it back.

She snaps. Fury crosses her face in full expression, and she's staring at my murderously. She pushes really hard, and I fall to the floor. She's absolutely crazy.

She grabs the desk next to her and smashes on my, and pain shoots up my legs. She's over top of me, kicking me as hard as she can, raking my face with her nails, punching my face. Her face is contorted with anger as she goes to grab my neck.

And I realize that she's about to kill me. Actually. She hates me so much that she wants to kill me.

I grab her arms before they reach my neck and twist her arm awkwardly. She cries out in pain for a second, and struggles against me as I get to my feet. I kick her legs out from underneath her, and hold her up against the wall, her feet off the floor. I use my leg to pin them so she can't kick me.

I stare into her eyes for a second, and I slowly see the anger fade away. She hangs her head low. "You don't know who I am. So don't judge me."

"Really, then explain yourself for once instead of just saying I don't know you!" I pressed her against the wall even harder.

She looked up at me with the most depressed, broken expression I've ever seen in my life. She turned away, but I jerked her arms. She turned back towards me, and I my head went dizzy for a second, and I couldn't believe my life.

She was crying. Tears were slipping down her cheeks, and her eyes were red. She was gasping in deep breaths, choking on the air.

She shut her eyes tightly as more tears slipped out.

"I'm a bad person Fang. I'm a bad person. That's why."

I let her go slowly, expecting her to walk away or something, but as soon as I let go of her, she fell to the floor in a heap.

She clawed the ground as she muttered to herself. "All my fault. I'm a bad person. Clara, Mike, him, Sarah, my fault. Don't deserve anything. I'm a bad person."

I was speechless. Her hands flew to her temples as more tears poured out. "Clara, Mike, him, Sarah my fault. My fault. It's all my fault. Disappear. Go away!" she screamed the last part.

I didn't know what to do. Blood was all over her face so I grabbed a towel, wet it in the sink, and knelt down beside her, where she was still mumbling.

"Mess everything up. Hated. Bad person. Ruined everything. Flock was right. Need to disappear."

How was the flock right?

I dismissed my curiosity as I pressed the cool cloth against her face to wipe the blood away, and she stopped mumbling. Vic stared up at me for few seconds, but didn't object. Her eyes had a pained look in them.

I did this. I did this to her.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to her.

She still had tears streaming down her face, and her hair was a bloody mess. She was trembling. "I'm a bad person."

"No you're not; you're not a bad person." I assured her.

She curled up in a ball like a little girl, and I picked her up and placed her on the bed. Her shirt was covered in blood so I went to her bag to get her a new one.

She started mumbling again. "Bad person. Don't deserve this. Clara, Mike, him, Sarah. Guilty. Hate memories. Always come back. My fault."

I grabbed her bag and went through the main compartment, looking for a shirt. I pulled one from the very bottom that was all curled up in a ball. When I pulled it out of the bag, two bottles of sleeping pills and a small glass bottle filled with some liquid fell out. I pick up the bottle and opened the lid, taking a smell of the liquid inside.

Vodka.

The two pill bottles were unopened, and one of them had a sticky note on the top. _For when I'm ready to go: down all _was written in neat print.

Vic was shaking. "All my fault. Bad person. Need to go away. Make up for it. Don't deserve this. _Need to die_."

Holy shit.

**Please Review! It wuld totally make my day, no, my life, if I got some reviews**


	6. Chapter 6

**HI!**

**I finally got the energy to update!**

**Highlight of the day: I was hungry on the bus so I pulled a Snicker's bar out of my backpack and took a bite. My boyfriend, who was beside me, says "I vill destroy de Snickurs Bars!" I immediately broke into laughter and choked.**

"Fang, you suck. Stop knocking over chip bags with the basket!" Vic reprimanded me as we walked down the isle of _Meijers_.

She seemed to be normal, if anything more normal than she normally is. She's back to bossing me around, sprouting facts about my life then clamming up. Oh, and she's back to criticizing me until I want to die.

"Sorry hun." I replied sarcastically.

She stopped and put her hands on her hips. As if I was a bad dog or something. "Fang, do as I say."

God, I feel like the abused husband that I saw two isles back. In fact, the other people in the store practically saw me that way too, and Vic was loving it.

"Hmmm, these hotdogs." Vic said as she dropped some in the basket then moved forward to evaluate sandwich meats.

"Fang, do you like turkey or ham better?" she asked sweetly.

"I like—"

"Yes, ham does sound good."

You see what I'm saying? Less than a week ago, she was crying and freaking out on the floor, and now she's acting like I'm her bitch. Weird.

I've been keeping a really close watch on her though. The whole pills and vodka with a note thing just screamed _suicide_ at the top of its lungs. I mean, she doesn't seem totally suicidal.

With her, you just can't tell. I walked around for a bit, and I learned to tune out whatever abusive comment she was making. I wasn't really paying attention to anything, I just walked in whatever direction she was dragging me in.

"Fang! Fang!"

Vic was frantically waving her hand in front of my face, so I'm guessing I'd zoned out.

"Uh, yeah?"

She smirked. "You have to pay the cashier Fang."

I almost strangled her, but I took a couple of twenties out of my pocket and handed them to the girl behind the desk.

She eyed me with interest as she handed me back my change. "Have a nice day."

_798-3294 Tina CALL ME_ was scrawled over the back of a one dollar bill.

Vic rolled her eyes. "Wow she must be desperate."

I pushed her lightly. "Jealous?"

Her face cringed and she made retching noises. "Hell no. I couldn't be jealous of her. She's like, 19 years old and telling a sixteen year old to call her. That just screams desperate."

"Sure whatever."

She walked over to a park bench across the street, and strategically placed the food into her bag in an organized manner.

"I saw it," I said to her. The vodka and pills.

She doesn't look at me. "I know."

I swallow. "Why did you...did you want to..."

"No, I'm not crazy. I'm fine. I took them away from someone who was so that they wouldn't."

"Oh," I mumble, and suddenly things are awkward.

She zips up her bag. "Where to now? What is the next step on this mission? God that sounds gay..."

I know the matter about the pills isn't finished, but I let it slide. "Well, we need to get some information. I know there is a lab connected to the school somewhere around here, and I want to look there for information. I don't even know if it's still open, but it's somewhere in this state."

"Mmhmm. So, what do you need me to do in order for this to work?"

I raised an eyebrow. She was waiting for instructions...where's the catch?

"Well, we know you're going to screw things up, so I need to make sure things go as planned." She explained.

I flipped her off. "I need access to a computer." Then the idea popped into my head. "Hey, you said you have connections in almost every state, right?"

She nodded. "Yup," she popped the "p".

"Got one around here?"

"Next state," she replied, but I noticed the tiny shake in her voice and how her face paled 1% of a tone.

"You're lying."

"No I'm not," she insisted.

I looked at her smugly. "You are."

She stared into space for a second. "Fine, caught me."

I smirked. "Right, so can you get me to them?"

She shook her head. "Next state, please?"

I shook my head, feeling totally in charge. "Oh come on, it can't be that bad."

"It is," she whispered, "They're terrible."

"Come on captive." I said, as I took off into the sky. I glanced back at her, her face set in a scowl.

I waited for her to walk in the opposite direction, and I was ready to go back after her.

She reluctantly snapped out her wings, 14 ft of dark brown feathers, and followed after me.

"You listened. How refreshing." I commented.

She smirked. "I'm having a _be nice_ day... you should be so happy, I'm like fucking Mother Theresa."

Mother Theresa. Max used to make jokes about how she was Mother Theresa. Just another stupid, creepy thing that Vic had in common with Max.

_It's nothing_ I convinced myself as Vic started to turn in a more northern direction.

* * *

I couldn't believe were I was. You wouldn't believe where I was either.

I was in a stall in the girls' washroom at a high school. You heard me. The _girls'_ room.

There was stuff written all over the stall door and walls the way it is in movies. Some examples:

_Love you Kara_

_Mandy H slept with Laura's boyfriend...SLUT_

_Brandon L is hot_

_Regina is the biggest bitch ever_

_Heather slept with Kevin, Donnie, and Jake IN THE SAME HOUR_

And the list of comments continued. I was in hell.

"Pass the jeans!" Vic whispered to me.

Vic had dragged me to goodwill, where she purchased a pair of ripped jeans. Like, the whole bottom half was in total shreds. It cost about 25 cents. I tossed them over the stall wall.

I waited and leaned my head against the door. This is like a guy's worst nightmare. Being alone in a stall in the girls' washroom.

"Kay, I'm done. You can step out, the coast is clear."

I unlocked the door and stepped out. Vic was standing there, but it wasn't Vic. It was like...WTF!

The jean's had become really short shorts, I'm guessing she'd hacked of the legs with a knife since they were jagged and frayed. She wore her jacket over some low cut, tight fitting shirt, and her dark hair was brushed out of her eyes.

I think it was the first time I realized that she was really a girl. Like actually could be pretty. No, _hot._

She was scowling non-stop. "Oh shut the fuck up."

"I didn't say anything!" I snapped defensively.

"I hate you. I look like a hooker."

I almost laughed. "Hey, I didn't tell you that you had to look like a hooker."

"No, it's worse. I have to go to hell as soon as the bell rings."

As if on cue, the bell rang.

Vic led me through the halls into the cafeteria. There were kids sitting at tables, and I could easily separate the popular kids from the geeks from the regular, un-popular jocks to the people who don't really have a major social group. It was like watching a teen movie.

Vic grabbed my arm and walked over to the vending machine in the corner. We waited there for a few seconds. People were starting to stare, so Vic grabbed my hand. "Pretend you're talking to me."

"I'm talking to you."

She rolled her eyes. "Good job Fang. I fucking hate you."

Just then I heard this clacking noise. It approached us, getting louder and louder. Vic started mouthing the numbers as she counted. _Five, four, three, two..._

She grabbed my arm as she rounded the corner to exit through the cafeteria doors, instantly running into someone.

"Oh, shit, sorry!" Vic gushed as she stepped back.

"Watch where you're going bitch," the girl straightened out her shirt, then looked up. "Oh my god, Anna?"

You know, this girl was dressed in a tiny little mini skirt and the tiniest tube top I'd ever seen. She had on 3 inch heels that looked like torture devices. Her group of Barbie photocopies materialized behind her. In total, there were six.

Vic smiled. "Oh my god, Stacy!"

They hugged. The entire cafeteria was silent as they stared at Vic and Stacy.

"God hun, I thought you were in New York!"

"I am, but I'm visiting for the next two days or so." Vic said slyly, before flashing a brilliant smile.

I have never seen her smile like that before.

"You are so eating lunch with us!" Stacy hooked arms with Vic who grabbed me quickly. Stacy froze, then turned back to look at me. "Who's this?"

Vic smirked. "A friend."

"With benefits?" Stacy raised an eyebrow.

Vic shrugged innocently.

Stacy dragged us over to a table and sat Vic down before taking her seat at the head of the table. The group of followers...you guessed it, followed her and soon some guys materialized as well. This blonde one sat beside Vic, undressing her with his eyes.

"Josh," he said to her.

"Anna," she returned with a flirtatious smile.

I thought I was going to throw up.

"New?"he asked her.

She shook her head. "I was here for a while, but I moved to New York."

I caught him sliding his hand on her leg underneath the tabe. "Glad you're back."

That's how lunch hour passed. In a blur of smiles, and flirting, and OMGs, and people staring. I hardly said a word the whole time, but Vic looked like she was in her natural habitat. She was right, she is a great actor, but I was beginning to know her better. When she laughed, her fair fell down and she would sneak a glance around the room to check for any threats. I caught her doing this at least twelve times during the hour.

"Well, I've got to get to class, but it's amazing to see you." Stacy hugged Vic.

"Ditto." Vic smiled sweetly.

Stacy's face lit up as she pulled away from the hug. "Oh my god, I just got this idea! We are performing tonight at 9. Oh my goodness, we are so showcasing you! Like one last night with the girls! It'll be just like one of those times that a group gets back together for a show, like Spice Girls!"

Vic looked shy. "Are you sure? I mean, I need to learn steps, and..."

"Oh, you were always so good with steps, don't worry. This is going to be just like the old times!"

The bell rang loudly through the cafeteria.

"Oh, shit, I'm going to be late, but I'll see you. My place at 4:30. If you can't remember where it is, I'm sure Josh would give you a ride!" she winked then hurried down the hallway.

"Fuck." Vic lost the smile. "Have I ever mentioned how much I hate you?"

She pulled my into the school library and into an isle where the encyclopaedias were.

"What was that all about?" I asked her.

"There's a reason why I didn't want to come here."

I decided to take the bait. "I don't know, you were looking pretty cozy with Josh during lunch..."

She glared murderously. "Shut the fuck up."

I smirked. "How did you run in with these people anyway?"

She shuddered. "I was walking through the school when I was looking for the cafeteria. A kid told me to short-cut through the gym to get there faster, so I did. The girls were there arguing. One of them got pregnant, so they were kicking her out of the group. Prego her ego yells 'How are you going to find a replacement in time for tomorrow?'"

I nodded to show I was listening.

She sighed. "Well, they noticed me. They decided I had nice legs and I could join their little group as a fill in. I went over to one's house that evening and we had a sleepover. Typical American teen stuff. I hung out with them for two weeks, performed in six shows, then got out of there. Then I was headed to a prestigious school in New York City."

"Nice story. Did you make everything up on the spot for them?"

She shrugged. "Pretty much."

"How do you remember?" I asked.

Her jaw tightened. "I remember everything. Every little thing."

"Why?"

She shook her head, her muscles tense. "I just do."

"Is there some special reason—"

"I can't forget anything that happens!" she snapped at me, her eyes murderous. "I can't ever forget, so don't ask why."

_She can't forget, she can't forget anything_. What it that supposed to mean? How can you not forget anything? Is she like, one of those intense computer brained experiments?

Nah, she's too human. The computer brained experiments always acted awkwardly, totally impassable in society. You could tell them apart in a second.

I left it alone anyway. "So, you can remember everything that's happened to you?"

"Yep," Vic nodded, picking at her fingernails.

I shrugged. "Well that's pretty cool."

She tensed again. "That's questionable."

"You don't like it?" I asked, my face impassive.

"It's one of those blessing but a curse things." She stared into space.

"How's it a curse?" I asked.

She shook her head. "You wouldn't understand."

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the shelf covering up the _A-D_ Volume of the encyclopaedia set. I leaned my head back against a shelf and just breathed. I couldn't put my finger on Vic. Her and all her alter egos were enough to drive a person insane. So far she's played the role of the slut, the rebel, and god knows what else. She opens up to me for a minute, then shuts back down. She's invincible and strong at one moment then she's on the floor, broken, crying. She's defiant, different, know it all, mysterious.

And she's scary. Things she does, they remind me of Max. The simplest things, like how puts her hands on her hips when she's mad. Or how she presses her fingers to her temples. Or how she bit her lip. Or just the way she acted sometimes it felt like the old days.

Except this isn't the same as having Max here. No one is quite like Max.

"I love having a spare." A girl sighed.

I'm guessing some kids were coming into the library, 5 o'clock from where I was sitting.

"Who doesn't love spare period?" another girl responded. I heard them approach the desk somewhere in the middle of the library and sit down.

"What homework do you have Jen?"

"Well," I'm guessing this was Jen, "I have to read the rest of Romeo and Juliet then write a paper about the meaning of the story.

"God, Romeo and Juliet. What a cute love story! I was stuck with Macbeth. You're sooo lucky. I got stuck with Macbeth! They just kill each other and stuff, but Romeo and Juliet; that's so romantic!"

Vic grabbed my arm to stand up and leave. I got to my feet silently as we walked towards the door.

"Yeah, I know," one of the girls said, "I wish I could have a Romeo and Juliet romance."

I slid out the door with Vic and walked down the empty hall.

I shook my head in disgust. "Why would they want a Romeo and Juliet romance? Don't they know that Romeo and Juliet die in the end?"

Vic looked back at the door. "I guess it's over rated."

Oh shit. Did I just offend her? "I just mean, it doesn't make too much sense to me, but if that's what you wanted—"

She shook her head sadly. "Don't worry, I already got my Romeo and Juliet love story."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "They die."

"I know," she whispered. "So I guess mine is more a West Side Story thing."

I didn't know what that was so I shut up. We walked out some back door to the school and into some cheap looking fast food restaurant. I ordered a bunch of food along with Vic. The cashier shot us a strange look.

"We just finished a 60 hour famine for cancer," Vic explained. "I'm so hungry!"

He smiled at her, glancing at her low cut top. She noticed.

"Kay Jeff, I'm going to go get some straws and ketchup." She tapped my shoulder before walking off.

"You hittin' that?" The guy asked me. He looked like that cool guy form high school who was captain of the football team and everything, but he couldn`t get to college and he was stupid as hell so he ended up here working at a burger joint. He was about twenty years old.

``No," I replied as the two trays of food were placed on the counter.

He stared past my shoulder to Vic, who was bending over a bit, slamming the ketchup pump with her hand, but nothing was coming out.

"Jeff, the machine is broken!" she called over to me. "I'm just going to take vinegar!"

"Um, sure," I responded, then picked up the food trays and walked over to one of the many vacant tables. Vic joined me a couple minutes later.

"Thanks _Jeff_," she smirked.

"Hey, at least I'm not a girl with a guy's name _Vic_." I shot back.

She rolled her eyes. "Right, because your _Max_ doesn't have a guy name _at all_."

"Hey, it's short for Maximum."

"That's a normal name. Let's take a completely strange name and make it a guy's name!" she said with false cheer as she shoved some fries into her mouth.

"I don't see how that's better than Vic. Is that short for something?"

She frowned. "I hate my full name. If I was able to name myself, I would. Still, you are able to name yourself and what do you choose? A tooth. And Maximum."

I edged her on. "Why didn't you change your name?"

She shrugged. "Once I heard it, I was doomed to remember it forever. I couldn't change it."

"What's your full name?" I asked, taking a long sip of coke.

She scowled. "Victoria. Victoria Maria Georginni."

"Victoria?" I smirked.

She flipped me off. "Hey, I didn't name myself after a tooth."

I shook my head, trying not to laugh. "Victoria?"

"It was my mom's best-friend's name." She whispered.

"Your mom?"

"Yeah. It meant a lot to my mother to name me after her friend who had passed away. So shut up." She looked away and out the window.

My eyes widened. "You knew your mom?"

She shook her head sadly. "Just her memories. I see them in my head."

I'm going to pretend that I understood what that meant. "How old were you when you were...taken?"

She looked down. "A couple of hours."

"Did your mom....?"

She closed her eyes tightly as if she was trying to get rid of the idea. "My mom was fourteen. She refused to get an abortion and the scientists offered to take the baby, take care of me, and help mankind. My mom, who had been a couple weeks, agreed.

"But then she held me in her arms, named me, and told me everything was okay. She wanted to keep me. She told the whitecoats that. She was going to raise me."

I stared at her. "What happened?"

Her eyes were a mix of emotions. "Child birth at a young age like that can be dangerous. She refused to take painkiller hospital medicine, and the whitecoats from the lab had injected her with all sorts of stuff with were intended for me. She died an hour after I was born. The whitecoats couldn't of been happier. They scooped me up and took me away."

"That sucks." I said after a pause of silence.

She twirled a vinegar-doused French fry between her fingers. "I kept my name for my mom. She tried her best. She was only fourteen."

I nodded my head. _I couldn't possibly understand what that felt like._

She smiled weakly. _Thanks._

I look down at my hands. _I wish I could remember my mom._

She shrugged. I didn't know what to interpret that as. She turned her head towards the clock. _It's time to go._

She got up and walked towards the exit of the store. She went back to wearing an emotionless mask as she tossed a paper cup into the trash can.

I could lie and say I understand her a little more. I don't.

Do I think I know her a little bit better? Yes.

Does she still scare me a bit? Yes.

Do I trust her? I'm pretty sure I do.

So I followed after her.

**Review please! Reviews are like sunshine! Like happiness! It's Joe Gilmore's Birthday! (props to anyone who knows who that is)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello people!  
**

**Sup?**

**Here's chapter... seven I think. It**

**It's kind of a filler, but enjoy!**

**Highlight of the Day: I was arguing with my friend about how I didn't get scared really easily. Then I screamed because I was scared of my shadow for a second. Didn't really help my side of the argument.**

"Five, six, seven, eight!" Stacy yelled from the other room.

I was invisible, lying down on a couch, waiting for dance practice to be over. We'd been here for four hours, and I was ready to leave. I mean, the point of this trip was to get information on the lab in the area, not play pole dancer.

"Um, washroom?" I heard Vic ask.

"Down the hall, left." Someone replied.

"Okay, thanks." She walked off.

Kill me now. Really, if I hear anymore counts to eight, I will shoot myself in the head.

"Oh shit! We have to get costumes ready! Shit, shit, shit, it's already 8:30! We need to do make-up and get there for 9:00!"

There was a whole bunch of running and frantic screaming. Oh joy.

"Anna, we have to change up your clothes and makeup!"

I closed my eyes and blocked out the sound. At least tried. Those girls aren't quiet. I heard the click off heels, a couple 'oh my gods', and some cuss words mixed in. Then it all ended as I heard a door slam. Finally, silence.

"Come on Fang!" she whispered into my ear, pulling me up.

"Why are we doing this?" I asked her without opening my eyes..

She rolled her eyes. "I'll explain later, okay? We've gotta go!"

My eyes snapped open. I could see her figure in the dark, not much more. And that's with raptor vision. She tossed me my bag and her bag and grabbed my arm.

I let her pull me along. She began to run, and got a good glance at her. She was wearing some huge coat that covered halfway down her legs. She pulled me through the streets quickly, faster than any human could ever run. She pulled me through a park. Then snapped her wings out to propel herself over a fifteen-foot fence. I followed afterwards quickly. We were in some parking lot. She dragged me in through some back door, pulling me up a flight of stairs and down a hallway, suddenly pulling me left. Then she stopped abruptly.

She got close to me and spoke quietly. "Okay, here's what's going to happen. First, you will listen to me without question. Fail to follow this rule and I will never help you again. You are going to go into the auditorium and watch the show. After the show is over, I will meet up with you at the northwest part of the gym while all the kids have their little dance/party thing. I will give you direct instructions and you will follow them. Are we clear?"

I nodded, trying to memorize everything she'd said.

She sighed. "Go through the door at the end of this hallway, okay? I have to split. You'll see me in about 70 seconds on stage," she paused. "You owe me so badly."

I was about to say something as she took off down the hall and turned left. I walked into through the door I was told to go through. The room was like a giant gym, and there was a stage pulled out on one side. Low light drifted through the room of teenagers assembled, and I scanned for any possible threats. I remained close to the door as the stage lit up. Stacy was on there alone.

"Hey!" she yelled out to the crowd through the microphone that was strapped to her head.

Everyone in the crowd screamed for her.

"Thanks for coming out! Now we've got all the girls here tonight. Ready!"

"Whoot!" the crowd yelled.

"So here we go!" Stacy yelled. "Carly, Layla, Tiffiny, Samantha, and Liv!"

Four girls ran out onto the stage, and people cheered.

Stacy smiled. "Now we've got a special treat for you. One of our former members is doing a show with us while visiting from New York; Anna!"

Vic walked onto the stage. Wolf whistles rang out from the crowd. My jaw dropped. Actually. It was so completely shocking that I expressed emotion.

All the girls had been dressed in a similar way: White tees with sparkly metallic shorts.

All except Vic. Vic was wearing a very tiny low cut black tank top and an extremely short black-and-white plaid skirt. She had a black jacket thrown over her shoulders, zipped up the tiniest bit. Her dark hair was brushed out of her face, and dark makeup was around her eyes.

She looked like almost every guy's dream. Skinny legs and tiny waist and great hips. I think the guy beside me was salivating.

"So tonight we'll be performing two songs, and Anna's the star!" Stacy exclaimed through her headset. "So let's get this going!"

They all took their spots on stage as some music started.

_Turn the lights on_

They all began to dance moving in the beat in some weird combination of hip-hop/pole dancing without the pole.

Vis took the position at the front of the stage.

_Every night I rush to my bed  
With hopes that maybe I`ll get a chance to see you  
When I close my eyes I`m going out of my head  
Lost in a fairytale, can you hold my hands and be my guide_

I did a double take, and sure as hell it was Vic singing, dancing with the beat of the song in front of the rest of the girls.

_Clouds filled with stars cover your skies  
And I hope it rains you`re the perfect lullaby  
What kinda dream is this?_

Vic was singing leads while the others harmonized and sang backup. I actually sounded pretty good.

_You could be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare  
Either way I don't want to wake up from you  
(Turn the lights on)_

_From your sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare  
Somebody pinch me, your love's too good to be true  
(Turn the lights on)_

_My guilty pleasure, I ain't going nowhere  
Baby 'long as you're here, I'll be floating on air_

_You can be sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare  
Either way I don't want to wake up from you  
(Turn the lights on)_

_I mention you when I say my prayers  
I wrap you around all of my thoughts  
Boy you're my temporary high _

_I wish that when I wake up you're there_  
_To wrap your arms around me for real_  
_And tell me you'll stay by side_

_Clouds filled with stars cover the skies_  
_And I hope it rains, you're the perfect lullaby_  
_What kinda dream is this?_

_You could be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare_  
_Either way I don't wanna wake up from you_  
_(Turn the lights on)_

_Sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare_  
_Somebody pinch me, your love's too good to be true_  
_(Turn the lights on)_

_My guilty pleasure, I ain't going nowhere_  
_Baby long as you're here I'll be floating on air_  
_'Cause you're my_

_You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare_  
_Either way I don't wanna wake up from you_  
_(Turn the lights on)_

_Tattoo your name across my heart so it will remain_  
_Not even death can make us part_  
_What kind of dream is this?_

_You could be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare_  
_Either way I don't wanna wake up from you_  
_(Turn the lights on)_

_Sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare_  
_Somebody pinch me, your love's too good to be true_  
_(Turn the lights on)_

_My guilty pleasure, I ain't going nowhere_  
_Baby long as you're here I'll be floating on air_  
_'Cause you're my_

_You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare_  
_Either way I don't wanna wake up from you_  
_(Turn the lights on)_  
_Either way I don't wanna wake up from you_

_Turn the lights off_

They all struck a pose when the song ended as the crowd cheered at the top of their lungs. The girls on stage were breathing heavily as Stacy spoke up again. "That okay guys?"

More cheering.

Vic smiled. "We've got a Kesha song for you guys!" she called out.

All the girls got into a line as they cued the music.

_My_

_My_

_My butterscotch, butterscotch_ they all called out, moving their hips with the beat, snapping their fingers.

_My butterscotch, butterscotch_

Stacy came in the sing, stepping up to the front, dancing in front of the rest.

_Pop rocks, lemon drops,  
Rolling in my tea tops  
Sugar rush, touch the stars_

_Dry eyes, delight  
Dancing by the light bright  
Watch us how we break some hearts_

Another girl stepped forward, and did her own little dance in the spotlight.

_So grab your gamma rays  
Come to my masquerade  
It's like a man parade and now_

_1 2 3 Oh!_

All of them got in line, and danced in sync, singing the words at the same time.

_Boys all want my butterscotch  
Licking their lips cause it's top notch  
No other bitch got what I got  
My butterscotch, butterscotch_

_Boys from Memphis to Bangkok  
Try to get keys to my candy shop  
Line it up round the block  
My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

One girl, I think it was Liv, stepped forward.

_Chase it, watch me how I make it  
Don't you wanna taste it, taste it?_

_My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

Vic stepped forward, singing solo, her hips moving with the beat, hypnotizing the guys in the front row.

_Waste it, watch me how I shake it  
Don't you wanna taste it, taste it?_

_My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

_My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

Vic stepped forward for a solo.

_Tasers, lasers_ she sang while twirling her hips and fingers in a seductive manner, right on the front of the stage. I could see some skeeze staring up her skirt.

_Alien invaders  
Tell me that I'm out of this world  
_

_Kasbah, so hot  
Burning down the booshwah  
No money can shut up this girl_

Someone else stepped forward as Vic stepped back.

_So grab your gamma rays  
Get with the masquerade  
Bring on the man parade_

_And now  
1 2 3 Oh!_

_Boys all want my butterscotch  
Licking their lips cause it's top notch  
No other bitch got what I got  
My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

_Boys from Memphis to Bangkok  
Try to get keys to my candy shop  
Line it up round the block  
My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

_Chase it, watch me how I make it  
Don't you wanna taste it, taste it?_

_My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

_Waste it, watch me how I shake it  
Don't you wanna taste it, taste it?_

_My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

Vic stepped ahead of everyone else.

_Boy your game is prehistoric  
Scripted like your Katie Couric  
Girl McCormick  
You're a tourist  
Got me bored so here's the chorus_

_Chase it, chase it  
Taste it, taste it, taste it_

_Ohhh_

_Boys all want my butterscotch  
Licking their lips cause it's top notch  
It's top notch, it's top notch  
They're licking their lips cause it's top notch_

_Boys all want my butterscotch  
Licking their lips cause it's top notch  
No other bitch got what I got  
My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

_Boys from Memphis to Bangkok  
Try to get keys to my candy shop  
Line it up round the block  
My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

_Chase it, watch me how I make it  
Don't you wanna taste it, taste it?_

_My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

_Waste it, watch me how I shake it  
Don't you wanna taste it, taste it?_

_My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

_My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

_My butterscotch, butterscotch!_

The crowd erupted in shouts.

All the girls bowed, and the cheering got louder. I stared in shock. I saw all the performers scamper off stage, and I headed out towards the northwest door as I quickly stepped out. I waited there for about thirty seconds before Victoria showed up.

"Don't even comment," she grumbled.

"You never told me you could sing." I asked anyway.

She rolled her eyes. "No, I guess it never came up in any of our heart-to-heart girl-talk sessions." She said sarcastically. "Now, there's a room with computers down the hall in room 9, hallway C. You won't miss it. It's on the right. I pulled a few strings, and the room will be unlocked. Use the password 'apples47' spelled in all lower case letters. Got that?"

I nodded.

"Okay, you'll be able to look up whatever information you want. Meet me back here in thirty minutes."

I raised an eyebrow. "What are you going to be doing?"

The side of her mouth quirked as she flashed me a sly look. "Some stuff."

I ignored that weird feeling in my stomach and walked down the hall. I took the right and followed into hallway C. I scanned the labels on the doors; room 7, room 8, room 9.

I turned the doorknob, and sure enough the door was unlocked. There were rows of computers, all on sleep. I walked over to one and pressed the power button as it loaded up. A password block came up and I immediately typed in 'apples47'. The computer immediately accepted the password and I clicked to open up the internet. I Googled Itex. I clicked on a couple of links, most of them were articles about how Itex totally crumbled and several scientists were locked up in jail and blah, blah, blah.

I the fifth link turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. It listed all of the labs connected to Itex in a neat list; there were six. I clicked for more information on one labelled Genetics Enhancement Laboratories. It was located in Illinois, not too far from where we were currently situated. The whole thing would've been completely ideal if it wasn't for the fact the place had been permanently shut down, then demolished half a month ago.

So I was back to where I began. I clicked back to the list of all the different Itex locations when my eyes landed on one of the Lab names: Experimental Genetics Research Centre. The place Vic came from.

I immediately clicked on it. EGRC had been in operation with the experimental combining of different species, just like the School. The entire facility burned down in 1996, when Vic was 5 as I was guessing, and there were no known survivors of the blaze.

I clicked on every single one of the lab names, but it all of them had been closed for a while now. So the idea about going to get information from a lab was totally shot.

I checked the clock. I'd been reading for about forty minutes...shit! I printed off the list of Labs and closed up all the stuff I was looking at and logged off, quickly putting the computer back on sleep. I picked up the sheets from the printer and walked out of room 9, closing the door behind me quietly.

I walked down the hallways with a brisk pace, then turned sharply to head back towards the auditorium. I had to find Vic, who was probably about to strangle me for being late. I sped up. I only had to make a right turn, and then the gym doors would be right in front of me. I was about to round the corner, but I heard the gym doors open quickly.

"Oh god that's feels good," A voice that was unmistakably Vic's moaned.

I peeked around the corner, invisible. I couldn't believe my eyes. Really.

It was that Josh kid, with Vic. It seriously looked like he was eating her face as she was sitting on one of those heater machine things, her head against the wall as his hands slid up the front of her shirt.

Josh went to kiss her neck, and she tilted her head back, offering more of herself. One of his hands came out from her shirt, and then proceeded to slide up and down her leg, going up into her skirt. She leaned right up next to his ear.

"I want you inside of me," she whispered seductively and he pulled her closer as she slid her arm down his side. She kissed him one last time. " but I've gotta go."

He let her go as she walked away towards me, Josh watching her with hungry eyes.

She walked straight past me. "Come on Fang."

I caught up with her. "What the hell was that?"

She rolled her eyes. "What?"

I stared at her for a long second. _You know what._

She shrugged. _I don't understand why you're making a deal of this. It's nothing._

I raised an eyebrow. _Doesn't seem like nothing._

She reached into her waistband and pulled out a wad of cash. _Get the picture?_

I turned away as we walked out the door.

I stared at her in amazement. "You little slut."

She shot me a hard glare. "I'm not a slut."

I nodded. "Right you're a whore 'cause you do it for money."

She turned and pushed me. I really wasn't expecting it so fell over. "I. Am. Not. A. Whore."

"Why do you do it?" I asked her while getting up.

She looked away. "To survive."

"You could get money other ways."

She turned away. "I know."

"Then why? I can tell you don't like having his hands up your skirt but you let him do it anyways. Why do you do that to yourself?" I demanded. She turned to look away from me, but I grabbed her arm and forced her to face me.

She bit her lip. "I-I don't really know."

I stared at her for a moment. "You don't know?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it, okay? I'm just really messed up, and-and guys suck. End of story." She stuttered.

Then it occurred to me. "Does this have anything to do with your Romeo and Juliet romance thing?"

She stared up at me. "What?"

"Earlier on today," I prompted, "you said that you already had your Romeo and Juliet story."

She glared. "Yes..."

"So what happened?"

She shot me a broken glare. "I don't have to confide my secrets with you," she joked. "It doesn't matter, just forget it. I'm trying."

"But you can't forget anything," I twisted her words against her.

She gave me a small smile. "I said it was a partially a curse."

I nodded.

"Well," she changed the topic, "I refuse to fly in a skirt so I'm going to change."

I studied our surroundings. We were on a street and she was pulling me into an alleyway. "Umm..."

She sighed. "Just turn around and keep watch." She ordered.

I did as she said. I heard the sound of what I think was her pulling on pants but I couldn't be sure. Just then I spotted something off to the left from the corner of my eye. I looked closer.

"Vic," I whispered.

"Yeah Fang?" she materialized at my side wearing sweatpants.

"Erasers."

As if on cue about twelve Erasers walked out from the far end of the alleyway.

"Shit!" Vic mumbled.

The Erasers ran straight at us and attacked. I realized I didn't know how well Vic fights, but I assumed she'd be okay. I had to focus on holding my own. I met the first Eraser as it swung for a right hook. I ducked beneath its arm and shot a quick jab to its stomach as another one managed to take out my legs. I took out both of their legs and shot to my feet as they tumbled down. I sent solid kicks to both of their heads, knocking them out for sure.

One came up behind me, but I elbowed it in the nose, hearing a good crack. It was broken and I turned and smashed my hands over top its ears as its eardrums popped and it went down.

The fight continued, and I shot a quick glance at Vic who seemed to be handling things just fine. I kneed an Eraser in the ribs, then shot a good punch to its face, knocking it out.

That`s when I heard it. The unmistakeable sound of a gun getting loaded. My eyes landed on the Eraser holding the gun about 25 ft away.

Another Eraser attacked me, and I was forced to fight it off, but the Eraser with the gun pointed it straight at my head.

I wasn`t going to make it. I wasn`t going to see Max again. Ever. I was going to die here in an alleyway. I don`t know who I was kidding, thinking I could live to be 35. With the dangerous life I live, and the fact I have a fucking expiration date, I was just living on borrowed time. And now I was facing my end.

Or...if I killed the Eraser fighting me right now, I could take off into the sky and get out of shooting range.

Okay, the chances of that happening were pretty slim, but it _could_ happen. It wasn`t likely, but I wasn`t about to just _give up_. I had this idea formulating about how I would get away, maybe he`d miss and hit my leg or something not totally life threatening.

I punched the Eraser I was hand-to-hand with and slammed its head into the wall, and it crumpled to the ground.

I was about to jump up as I heard the gunshot.

**Oooh, this one is a cliffie! Haha, please click on the button and write a review...Please?**

**v**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello!**

**I wrote this chapter quickly, so it's not really the best.**

**Highlight of the Day: I was helping out at a daycare after school when the supervisor reminded us how little kids don't the different foods to touch on their plates at snack time, laughing about how stupid that is. I absolutely _can't stand it _when the different foods on my plate touch...**

Suddenly I felt... nothing. There wasn't any sharp, unbearable pain. Maybe I'd died instantly or something, but that seemed _really _unlikely.

Then I opened my eyes, which I didn't even realized I had closed, and surveyed my surroundings. The Eraser with the gun was falling to the ground, head first. The rest of the Erasers scattered along the alley, dead on the ground. Then my eyes landed on Vic, and I was frozen for a second. Her face was etched with determination; fierce and focused. I'd never seen her look that way before, so concentrated, aggressive. But that wasn't even the surprising part.

She was staring intently at the fallen Eraser, focused down the barrel of the gun in her hands. It wasn't big or flashy, you know, like those giant machine guns that make people's eyes fill with fears, but instead a tiny little pistol; the kind James Bond had strapped to his leg by his ankle or something. The Eraser on the ground stopped moving completely, and Vic lowered the gun.

I stared at her in disbelief. "Where did you get that?" I asked patiently, observing her every move.

Vic slid her hand up the gun, clicking something before tucking it into the waistband of her sweatpants. She shrugged at me. "Some alley."

"How long have you had it?" I asked quietly.

She seemed totally impassive. "Since sometime a couple months ago."

Then I caught on to one of the mistakes I'd made, this one with lethal consequences. It was like, one of the main rules in capturing a person; always check them for weapons...which I failed to do. I cursed myself under my breath. She could've killed me easily at anytime she had wanted. "What other weapons are you packing?"

She glared. "Right, so I'm just going to cough up all the weapons I have?"

"Pretty much," I replied.

She narrowed her eyes. "You know, you should be a little more grateful, considering I just saved your life and all."

"Okay, are you going to tell me what weapons you're carrying, or am I going to have to do a personal search?" I growled at her.

She looked thoughtful for a minute. She pulled the gun out and handed it to me, then pulled a pocket knife from her jacket and tossed it to my. I thought that was it. It wasn't.

She pulled a knife from her leg and placed it on the ground. She reached into her other pocket and brought out a pack of bullets and a ninja star.

"All done?" I asked.

She held up her pointer finger; _One second._ As she reached into her bra (WTH?) and pulled out a Swiss army knife.

"That's it," she said, but I was still expecting a machete or something to pop out from her shirt or something. "Can I get all my stuff back?"

I handed everything back to her... except the gun. I held back on that. While I was in the flock, Max always in forced the golden rule: no guns whatsoever. We had been shot at too many times to count, and regarded them as cheap. We didn't use them, we didn't own them, and we tried to avoid touching them. At least, those were Max's rules, and Max was all self-righteous. I'd used one before in the airport when the flock split for the first time, but I'd never had the guts to tell Max, knowing she'd strangle me. Now staring at the dead Eraser who was about to put me underground, they didn't seem half as awful.

"Here," I handed the gun over to her, and she secured it back in the pants waistband. "How did you get that anyway?"

She flinched for a second. "It doesn't matter."

"Were you in a gang or something?" I asked.

She glared at me. "No, well yes. But that's not how I got the gun."

I smirked. "I'd love to hear that story. How Victoria came across a gun."

She closed her eyes tightly as if she was in pain. "Don't. Just don't go there. And don't say my full name or I'll make you forget it."

I didn't press her for gun details. Whatever the real story was, she didn't want to talk about it. I decided to leave it alone for now. "What's the plan for tonight?"

"Hotel," she replied. "I want to go to a good hotel. One where you can't hear girls screaming the whole time."

I thought it out. "I don't think I can afford it."

She smiled weakly. "I'll pitch in."

I froze. "How much money do you have on you?"

"A lot more than you," she smirked before taking off into the sky.

I tried not to feel angry at her as I followed after her as she circled up higher.

* * *

We ended up checking into a Hilton in Springfield, Illinois. I was lying in bed, looking over the sheets I printed off earlier with a small bedside lamp on to my right. Vic appeared to be sleeping fitfully in the bed to my left, twisting the sheets and rolling over a lot.

I turned back to the information in my hands. What was I going to do? Originally, I'd planned to locate all the different experiments that had survived from Itex and try to band together and make...well, not an army. However, I wanted to create a team of some sort, a group fit enough to survive the apocalypse. I'd found Vic; that's one, but I'd seriously been hoping to get information on all of the experiments from an Itex base, but all had been closed. I wish I had Nudge's computer hacking skill or something so I could get that information from a regular computer, but thats out of the question.

I know there are some other experiments out there; I mean, there were hundreds – no thousands of them on the planet. Itex had so many branches; at least some of the experiments must have escaped, right?

My train of thought was completely lost as I heard Vic stir from beside me. She jackknifed to her feet and ran straight for the washroom in the blink of an eye. Then followed the unmistakable sound of vomiting. I got to my feet and walked over to the washroom, and stood in the doorway.

Vic was perched over the toilet, one hand holding her hair out of her face as she another trail of puke came out of her mouth. She was gripping the edge of the toilet bowl so tightly that her knuckles were white.

"You okay?" I asked, but it sounded stupid. Of course she wasn't okay. The only times I'd ever seen bird kids throw up was when Gazzy tried to swallow salt water and when Gazzy inhaled too many liquor filled chocolates.

Vic's face was pale as she vomited again and again, and then she was leaned over the toilet bowl, dry-heaving for a minute. I stayed quiet for the whole time, as she flushed the toilet and scooted backwards until she was leaning against a wall, taking quick breaths. I sat down next to her, not quite sure of what to say. She looked shaken.

"You okay?" I repeated, because I couldn't think of anything else.

She opened her eyes, which were bloodshot. "I was so close...I thought..."

"You thought what?" I asked her.

She bit her lip really hard, drawing blood. Noticing, she licked it off. "It's... I'm... never mind."

"Are you sick? Hurt?"

She closed her eyes tightly, then slid down to lie on the floor, pillowing her head in her hands. "Yeah, I'm really sick."

It didn't come out sarcastically, but I automatically knew she didn't mean that she was sick; at least it wasn't like she'd caught stomach flu. I think she sort of meant it though, but I couldn't figure out what she _really _meant.

I sat beside her for the whole night, but she didn't move again until morning. She got up, regular as regular could be, and got ready to go.

"Feeling okay?" I asked while she was organizing her backpack.

She nodded. "I'm pretty sure I'm okay."

I looked at her sympathetically. "Tell me if you feel sick."

I really don't know why I was acting that way. This is the girl who constantly terrorizes me, telling me I suck, that I do everything wrong, along with the consistent 'I hate you', yet I felt the need to ensure she was feeling okay. That she was protected. Maybe that's because I spent years taking care of the younger kids in the flock. Maybe because she refrains from killing me even though she could and saved my life. Who knows?

We hit an IHOP for breakfast, ordering big as usual. I used my fork to stuff huge pieces of pancake into my mouth, while Vic cut hers into the tiniest pieces before chewing them for a long time and swallowing.

"Why do you cut your food up so small?" I asked her after swallowing all the pancake in my mouth.

"Hmm, maybe because I don't eat like a pig, like, I don't know, you? Honestly, would it kill you to chew your food properly? You never know when you'll..." she trailed off, choking on her words.

"What?"

"Never mind," she turned her whole attention back to her pancakes.

Something suddenly came to my mind. "I thought Erasers were all retired."

Vic shrugged. "They were. Actually, all the experiments were retired except those lucky enough to escape. One of the scientists must have set up lab elsewhere and started to recreate them, but from what I've seen, they haven't made any new ones recently."

I suppressed my shock. "How do you know?"

"The Erasers yesterday."

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "And you know because...?"

She seemed only half focused on the conversation. "The Eraser had only memory of production up till August, and from the rest of their minds, it ended there too. None of them had any direct connection to the scientist, in fact, no one does. He's only communicated to through phones. I need face-to-face contact. He's good."

_From the rest of their minds_. "I thought you weren't a mind reader."

Her head snapped up from her plate. "I'm not."

"Don't lie to me about this... you practically just announced it to me." I said in a hushed tone, but that steely edge was still there.

Her eyes filled with anger. "I have never lied to you without you knowing. Don't get pissed off about it when it never happened."

"Care to explain then? Because I'm pretty fucking confused!" I hissed.

"You know what? I don't want to explain, because it was never my choice to be here with you. Remember who's the captive?" she glared. She tossed a couple twenties onto the table. "Have fun," she muttered before walking out of the booth and through the front doors of the IHOP.

I jumped out of the seat and followed after her. I caught her around the back of the building and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back. "Don't try to act like I'm the bad guy. I've helped you a lot."

She shot me a death glare. "Really? Because as I recall, _I_ saved _your_ life less than twenty-four hours ago. Where would you be without me? Right, dead. You _owe_ me!"

I almost slapped her. "So where exactly would you be if you didn't meet me? On the street in New York? Or with your stripper friends from high school? Or would you be screwing some guy just to stay at his house?"

She punched me. And slapped me, but I caught her arms and pushed her up against the fence separating the IHOP from an elementary school, causing her to be unable to attack me again.

She spit on me. "Let go of me."

Anger coursed through my veins, like adrenaline. "How many guys have been in and out of your pants, huh?"

"Shut up!" she screamed, trying to kick at me.

"No really, I want to know the number. If you can't count all the times, just try and give me a rough estimate."

"Fuck you!" she yelled.

I almost smirked, but I held it off my face. I dug her into the fence a little harder, but that's when it happened. My thoughts got jumbled, and my mind went through different memories from when I was a kid. Whitecoats injecting my arms with needles, running tests, feeling scared. They all rushed back at me with such force that my head hurt. I was in my cage, and I glanced beside me, where Max would've been but instead it was Brigid Dwyer. In fact, all the memories I'd had with Max and the flock disappeared and were replaced with something else. I was growing up in an average American household. My mom had raven hair and blue eyes, while my dad had black hair and black eyes like mine. My best friend was a guy named Stephen and I lived in San Francisco. I went to high school like a regular kid. _I didn't have wings_. Then suddenly it all disappeared, and I couldn't remember my history at all, and couldn't see a thing. This was my past, this was my life. I was headed over to Stephen's house in ten minutes.

I was panicking...what the fuck was happening? Where was I? What was my name? My head hurt like crazy.

It all came back to me in a sudden rush. My head was spinning and I felt dizzy as my vision came back to where I was standing over Vic, who was sprawled on the ground.

"What was that?" I demanded.

She glared at me. "Something wrong Fang?" she asked in an icy tone.

She knew. In fact, she knew I knew she knew. I tried to hide my discomfort, but I was still so shaken from whatever had happened. I felt like someone had ripped my brain out then shoved it back into place without warning.

"What did you do?" I repeated with hostility.

She shrugged. "Not very much considering what I could've done."

Mind blowing wasn't a very good description of what just happened. It was fucking _insane._ I actually felt threatened by Vic now, more than I had ever before. She was like a loaded gun, ready to explode, yet mysterious, and I didn't understand her. She was unpredictable, dangerous, scary. I'm pretty sure she was scarier than _Angel_, because you can't just figure her out the way you could with a seven year-old.

Vic got to her feet, and pushed me really hard. She grabbed my shirt and slammed me against the fence, but suddenly, I couldn't remember how to fight. At all.

"Don't. Ever. Touch. Me. Again." She rattled my head against the fence to enforce her point. Her face was hard as rock and this was her aggressive side showing.

"I won't." I promised, and she stepped away from me.

I took a moment to breathe, letting the tension settle a bit. I glanced over at Vic, whose face was expressionless. She had set up a brick wall defence, and there was absolutely no way to get through to her now.

"You hate me," Vic said slowly. "You think I'm annoying as hell. So why don't I just leave. Go accomplish your mission or whatever and I'll be out of your way. Simple as that."

"Vic, I don't hate you, really..." I trailed.

She looked at her feet. "Don't make up shit. Less than ten minutes ago I was just some slut who had pissed you off for the last time. You can't deny it. I was always just a pawn in your plan; you were going to get my help, and then what? Send me away to live with your other flock? No. I hate flocks and I hate other bird kids."

I didn't move. "Why did you save my life? I know I was in your way, and if I died, you could be free. You could've shot the Eraser after he got me and you'd be home free. Why didn't you?"

She bit her lip. "You have people who love you and care about you and you care about other people. You have people who would miss you if you disappeared off the face of the earth."

"What about you?" I asked.

She looked at her feet. "I could disappear without a soul noticing. Not even you. No one would care."

With that she turned and took off into the sky, turning so that she was heading west, mostly hidden by the dark clouds looming overhead.

I made the split second decision to follow after her.

**This chapter was short, I know, but I didn't want to drag it on and this was the best place to stop for now. Review please!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Harro!**

**I will not lie, this chapter is not my best work...kind of fillerish, but still crucial to the story nevertheless! Please read and review!**

**Highlight of the day: It was raining today and I was walking home from the library. I was wearing a white shirt which was totally soaked through so you could see my bra. Since my boyfriend'****s house is a lot closer to the library than my own, I walked there instead. He opened the front door and his eyes widened as he said "You look like a hooker." I scowled as he continued. "30 dollars for 30 minutes in my bedroom?"**

"I'm not going to do that again."

Those were the only six words that Vic had said to me over the past two days, ever since our... conflict. I'd been keeping a close watch on her, but so far she seemed absolutely fine.

She hadn't protested when I followed her, but instead just simply accepted that I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and she was stuck with me for the time being, but I was wary that she might attack my mind again.

"No really Fang, I won't mess with your mind again as long as you don't attack me." She continued.

I stared to the side and leaned my head against the trunk of the tree we were sitting in. The moon set a whitish glow on everything, making Vic's emotionless face look like porcelain.

I tried to seem as impassive as her. "What was that all about?"

"Well, considering you tried to attack me behind IHOP? I think I had a right," she mumbled.

I looked back on it for a moment. "I believe you hit me first."

She scowled. "I believe you called me a slut, which is like five sucker punches to the gut and that feeling that makes you want to die."

"It's really that bad?" I asked. Because I don't recall ever being called a slut.

She shook her head. "It's worse. The pain doesn't go away. It circles back and slaps you in the face again."

"Sorry," I muttered. Because I think that's the most she's ever really admitted to pain, physical or not.

"I know I'm not the easiest person to deal with," she smiled, "and I'm kind of wondering why you followed me after I specified that I wanted you to go away, but... I'm not this way without reason, you know? I just wanted to point that out."

I nodded and stared out across the horizon, taking a bite of the pizza Vic had bought me. She had her own, and while I was halfway through mine, she had only gotten through one slice of her pizza. She grabbed a second piece and began to rip it up into tiny little pieces before putting it in her mouth and chewing thoroughly. I wanted to ask her about it, but I knew she'd shut down and put up her brick wall defense, not speaking a word.

I swallowed. "So, you mentioned that all the experiments were retired yesterday."

She nodded. "Yep. When Itex was putting the by-half-plan into action, they decided that only the best experiments would be allowed to survive, but since all the experiments around were flawed, they were sure that they needed to eliminate the failures. So they rounded up all the experiments and _retired,"_ she put quotation marks around _retired,_ "them. The experiments that weren't set up to be retired died off when Itex was shut down and they didn't receive the necessary treatments to stay alive, considering most of them were still in the process of growth. The experiments that were fully independent of Itex drugs were killed in the destruction of the Itex HQ in Germany caused by your...supporters."

I nodded, processing all the information she'd just spewed out. "In conclusion...?"

Vic rolled her eyes. "The only experiments out there roaming the earth are the ones created by the scientists who weren't put in jail for involvement with Itex, for example, your _friend_ Dylan. The rest of the experiments in the world are the ones who have escaped, like you, your flock, and _moi._ So basically, it's pretty tricky to get info on the experiments that are alive today. The ones who escaped Itex have little to no information left behind due to the major shut down of all Itex branches. The information died with the organization. That is, unless you have a really good computer hacker."

I cracked a wry smile. Well look at who has turned into a little chatter box. Honestly, when did she get so talkative. "Yeah, too bad I don't have one of those on me." _Nudge._

Vic shrugged. "The scientists who have reopened labs have been extremely cautious with what they're doing and where they are running stuff from. I've been trying to work out who is responsible for the Erasers that have suddenly reappeared from extinction, but I can't get the connection."

"Where did you get all this information? Did you, like break into Itex or something?" I asked after a long pause.

She laughed. "I'm not that crazy. I'm a one-girl show; if I tried to break into a high security child torture facility, I would be facing imminent death. Though, breaking out of the school wasn't even a challenge...it probably is do-able..." she trailed off.

I rolled my eyes. "Yep, breaking out of a high security centre isn't the slightest bit challenging."

She nodded. "It really isn't, as long as you have some stupid flock of six bird-kids plus their dog at the same facility to make a distraction."

I kept my voice level. "You were at the school with us for a while?"

"When Itex was slating all the experiments for execution. You guys were just down the hall."

I stared at her in disbelief. "You're kidding, right?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I saw you all strapped to your beds and I laughed."

"Why would you laugh?"

She shot me the _it's-really-obvious_ look. "You guys were so stupid."

I glared at her. "Dare to explain?"

She thought about it. "Sure, I might as well help you see your faults and see how you can improve for future experiences. Live and learn, right? Well, first of all, you all put up a fight when the mechanical Erasers tried to capture you, correct?"

I nodded.

"So naturally the scientist labelled you as 'bad experiments'. Next you failed to answer their questions and listen to their instructions, so that they were afraid of you being rebellious and trying to escape, so they made your room high security. The scientist that came to talk to me everyday complained about your flock every time he saw me. See, because while you guys were resisting the whitecoats, I was acting like their view of a perfect experiment. I'd let the Mechanical Erasers take me in and then I sat on my bed, and answered all of the whitecoats questions and all the stuff they wanted to hear. Obedient. They hardly watched my room, hardly even monitored me; why watch something that won't run away?"

"So then you lived in the lab, happily ever after?" I asked.

She flipped me off. "No, I waited for a diversion: specifically, your execution. All the whitecoats wanted to see you die for some reason... and I ran away in that time. Made a clean getaway."

"What if a diversion never came up?"

She shrugged. "I'd make one."

"How do you even do that?"

She smiled with false cheerfulness. "Well Fang, that's for me to know, and for you to be confused about so that you want to strangle me."

"Haha."

She shrugged.

I rolled my eyes, something I found myself doing ten times more than I used to before I met her.

Vic shifted the remaining five slices of her pizza around in her pizza box. My empty pizza box was perched on a tree branch.

She started to hand over the box. "Want the rest?"

I stared at her thin form. Us bird kids are normally lean and mean, but Vic took it to another level. I was actually concerned that she would die from being too skinny. She'd thrown up two more times since the first time, and it scared me.

_She was perched over the toilet, and I was pretending not to pay attention as I heard her hurling in the bathroom. I peeked a glance as she stood up and stepped onto the scale at the side to weigh herself. She stared down for the results, then immediately stepped off cursing._

"You should eat it," I replied.

She shook her head. "I don't want to."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Why do you have to interrogate me about this? Do you want the damn pizza or not?" she snapped.

"Vic," I asked in a cautious voice. "Do you have an eating disorder?"

Her head snapped up. "What? Why would you ask that?"

I gave her a look. _Um, you throw up half the food you eat._

She rolled her eyes. _I do not have an eating disorder!_

I raised an eyebrow. _Care to explain then?_

She shook her head. _Nope. _She turned her back to me to look out across the horizon. _Can we please drop the subject?_

Thus concluded our little silent convo. I sat down next to her, trying to study her features. She was an emotionless wall; unbreakable.

I gave up, looking out into the sky. We were out in the country, so the millions of stars you can never see in the city were shining brightly. "This is my favourite part of the day."

Vic glanced over. "Why?"

I shrugged. "It dark, all the traces of the sun's existence have disappeared, and it's like I'm home. I like being in the dark, because it's just me, and I'm invisible to the world and their invisible to me."

Vic nodded.

"What's your favourite part of the day?" I asked. I know, I was trying to make conversation. Weird.

She shrugged. "I don't have a favourite part of the day, but that there are things that happen in a day that I enjoy. Like brushing my teeth. I love to brush my teeth. Or taking a really cold shower."

I tilted my head so I could see her. Her hair was brushed back from her face, and her face was almost serene.

She gazed up, leaning back against a branch, putting her hands behind her head. "If you could change your life, what would you have done differently?"

I thought for a second. "I wouldn't have split up the flock like I did once when... I'm sure you know. What about you?"

She looked around. "I don't know. There are a lot of answers, but I thing I'd never of let myself be happy. Happiness always fades, and then you're left with shit."

I raised an eyebrow. "You'd ask to never be happy?"

She nodded. "And I'd wish that I didn't have any special skills. I'd wish that I wasn't a bird kid and that I didn't have supernatural powers. I'd wish I wasn't so fucked up. I'd wish I wasn't a girl."

"What's wrong with being a girl?"

She closed her eyes tightly. "Everything. Being a girl is the worst punishment I've ever received in my entire life."

"Why?"

She rolled her eyes. "Since forever, society has always proclaimed males as the more powerful people on this planet. Guys think that girls are useless, brainless people they can tool around with and throw away on a dime and I fucking hate it."

"Feminist rights are breaking through though, and women are getting more power in this world. I mean, there was a woman running for president." I supplied.

She shook her head. "You don't understand."

"Don't understand what?"

She turned away. "What it's like to be a girl. Sure, you've been on your own for a few months since you've left your flock, right?"

I nodded.

"How many times have people grabbed you off the street and pulled you into an alleyway? How many times has that been to try to feel you up? How many times have people attacked you and tried to take off your clothes? To take advantage of you because you look defenseless? To try and rape you?" she spat out bitterly, with anger sitting on the edge of her voice.

"Never."

She tilted her head back. "Exactly. Barely anyone would ever bother to try to attack you, but I've had guy try to drag me into their cars, try to corner me in alleys and stuff. Could they be any more sexist?"

"Not all guys are like that," I commented.

She nodded. "Yeah, but there are too many that are."

I didn't say anything for a long time. "I'm sorry."

She scowled. "I don't want you to apologize."

"What do you want?"

She pulled her knees up to her chest. "I want them to stop. Forever." She didn't elaborate beyond that, but I suddenly understood. I understood why she seemed to hate the majority of guys. I understood why she reacted so violently when I called her a slut. I understood why she freaked whenever I cornered her for information or whenever I pushed her. Because she had a past filled with abuse from guys, so why shouldn't she hate me? The guy who's constantly around her.

About an hour passed before Vic said she'd take watch considering she never had before.

"You look tired," she insisted. "You need to rest, or else everyone will think you're a stoner because of your red eyes. And I can't be seen with a stoner because it makes me look like one too."

And the decision was final; I would let Vic take watch. I had this constant paranoia that she take off and run away from me in the middle of the night. But though I wasn't ever going to admit it out loud, I actually was kind of tired. I positioned myself as comfortable as possible on the branch and closed my eyes. It took a while, but I did eventually fall asleep.

_I was in a cafeteria filled with several kids seated around large rectangular tables lined up in rows. There was a sign on the wall read "Mabel Strickland __**(AN: I found this name by pressing Random Article on Wiki)**__ Junior High" in shiny gold letters. A poster on the wall stated "Don't forget to buy tickets for the dance on Friday, June 18, 2004."_

_Okay, so either they got the date wrong, or I'm looking at the past._

_I looked around the room, becoming very acquainted with my surroundings when I saw a girl sitting alone at the end of a table, far away from everyone else. She picked at her food sadly, pushing around something which seemed to be mashed potatoes, but not taking a bite. Her blonde hair fell over her face limply, as if she was trying to hide from everyone else in the room. She put down her fork and picked at the fuzz on her sweater. She honestly looked depressed, alone, vulnerable._

_Then Vic appeared in my vision, wearing her trademark black clothes and with the same emotionless features, except she looked a couple of years younger with a slightly rounder face. Vic made her way across the room to sit next to her. The girl recoiled from Vic, looking at her as though she was used to sitting alone. I walked over in my dream and sat next to them, but it was as though I was invisible._

"_Why are you sitting here?" the girl asked Vic._

_Vic shrugged. "Why not?"_

"_No one else ever sits here," the girl replied._

_Vic smiled. "I dare to be different."_

_The girl was just staring at Vic dumbstruck. "You new here?"_

"_Yep," Vic replied._

_The girl rolled her eyes. "Figures."_

"_What do you mean?" Vic responded casually as if she didn't catch on to the girl's harsh tone._

_The girl raised one eyebrow._

"_Well," Vic shrugged, "You just seem less conceited than the rest of the douche bags that go this school. My name's Melody."_

_Vic stuck out one hand in a friendly manner. The girl hesitated for a moment before returning the handshake. "Clara."_

"_Nice name," Vic commented._

_Clara smiled. "You too."_

_Vic scowled. "My name sounds like a song or something, like my 'rents were high when they came up with it."_

_Clara laughed, but it sound a bit strained. "It's not that bad."_

"_Sure," Vic replied sarcastically as the bell rang through the cafeteria. "Well, I have to get to math class. I don't want all the teachers to hate my on the first day."_

_Clara smiled. "I'll see you around."_

_Then the world shifted and there I was in a bedroom. The walls were purple and the furniture was black and silver. Vic and Clara were sitting on the ground, painting their toenails black._

"_So did you see the way Miguel was staring at you during science? He was like, freaking out with joy when he was your lab partner," Vic told Clara._

_Clara scrunched up her nose. "That did _not_ happen!"_

_Vic rolled her eyes. "Of course you wouldn't notice, but I did. I swear he's going to ask you out."_

_Clara's eyes widened. "He's not my type."_

_Vic raised an eyebrow._

"_He was like, so incredibly stupid while we were working together, like couldn't understand the simplest things. I swear, he's absolutely retarded. And he was like, chewing on the sleeve of his shirt, like a five year old. Of course _you_ wouldn't notice that, but _I_ did."_

_Vic laughed. "Silly me."_

"_Yeah silly you."_

"_Hey!" Vic exclaimed defensively. "You're not allowed to diss me."_

_Clara rolled her eyes. "Um yeah, you're my best friend. I'm allowed to beat you up with a baseball bat and make fun of you twenty-four/seven."_

_Vic smiled and gave her a high five. "Hell yeah. But if you take a baseball bat to my head, I will not refrain from hitting you back."_

I was jolted awake by the sound of hearing Vic throwing up at the base of the tree. After she was done, she looked up at me with cold, dark eyes. I couldn't help but notice how different she looked in the dream, how innocent, how happy. I hadn't seen her laugh that way before, or actually seem truly happy.

It's like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders now, so dark, so burdened. She climbed back up the tree, and closed her eyes, and I was reminded of how little I knew her compared to what I thought.

And from what I could conclude, she had been a completely different person before she'd met me. A person I doubt I'd ever know.

**Well, if you've made it all the way down here, you've probably read the sotry. There's a blue button, right down there. Click it. Once you've clicked it, you HAVE to write somethimg. DO IT NOW!**


	10. Chapter 10

**So anyway, this is chapter ten!**

**Where have I been, you may ask? My parents thought it was a good idea to send me on a road trip with my cousin (she's pretty cool, and 18) because I need a trusted adult to bond with and discuss my issues with. LMAO right?**

**Right now I'm on cloud nine because Spain won the world cup quarter final against Paraguay! I LOVE Torres and Fabregas!**

**Highlight of the Day: I met a white person named Jamal. Nuff said.**

I zipped up the front zipper of my pack, and then slung it over my shoulders.

"Where to?" Vic asked. Quietly. She'd been really passive over the past couple days, waiting for instructions instead of dishing them out like a dictator.

"West," I replied after a moment of thought.

I waited for her to challenge me or question my reasoning, but she just nodded. "Okay."

What the fuck is going on?

I took off into the sky, and Vic followed after me, but her flying was erratic and clumsy, the way it had constantly been recently. Her face was slightly pale and her hair was sticking to her forehead. I knew that if I questioned her, she would deny any feelings of discomfort, so I forced myself to ignore it, to ignore her as I faced forwards, focused on flying in the right direction.

About thirty minutes later I glanced back only to notice that Vic had fallen hundreds of yards behind me and was much lower in altitude. I swooped down to her level, slowing my flying to her sluggish pace. Her lips were pressed in a tight line, and her face wore a grimace.

"What's wrong?"

She closed her eyes tightly. "It won't go away."

I used my most cautious tone. "What won't?"

Her eyes tightened as she pulled her hands to her head. And I was experiencing déjà vu from when Max got her first major headache after we'd broken out of the school saving Angel. Max had clutched her head in the _exact same way_ and...and then...

She fell. Like a comet hurtling towards the ground, plummeting to her death.

I'm frozen. Vic's falling in slow motion and too fast all at the same time. And I just stared for a second, unable to move. Finally my brain kicked in. _Do something._

I shot down after her, but she about 100 yards from a headfirst crash into the ground while I was a good 500 yards above her. I worked my wings quickly so I was flying downward, but she was getting really close to the ground. _Oh no._

Despite all of the stupid arguments and disagreements we had, all the bad times, all the incidents where we were _thisclose _ to strangling each other, I couldn't bear to watch her die before my eyes. Because, though I'm not so sure why, I cared about her, and I liked having her around, and I couldn't let her die while I could've saved her.

But with only twenty yards separating her from the ground, I was sure of the outcome. She would die.

Then Vic suddenly unfurled, and the wind caught her dark wings for a second before she hit the ground, easing the hard impact, though that didn't make it soft. She skimmed the rocks and gravel which sliced into her skin with ease as she slid to a painful looking stop.

I unfurled my wing to break as I made a smooth landing as I ran over to her. _Oh shit._

She was curled up in the fetal position, her hands clasped tightly around her head, as if to keep it from falling apart. She screamed three times, a piercing sound that seemed to scrape my ears.

"Vic!" I put my hand on her shoulder, but she shook it off as she screamed again, but the sound seemed to hang in the air.

Then she shifted, and she was on her hands and knees, facing the ground. Her back arched before falling and she hung her neck down to throw up. Her hands grasped on to the bloodied gravel. She lurched again to throw up, making the terrible gagging noise.

She stopped, breathing heavily as she lay back with her head in her harms, only a few inches from the vomit. She was making some noise that took me a few seconds to name; crying.

I knelt down knelt to her and shook her shoulder. "Vic."

She didn't move.

"Vic?" I repeated, but she remained in the same position without any reply.

I slid her pack off her back as gently as possible and hung it over my right shoulder. God that bag was heavy; what did she keep in there, rocks?

"Vic, I going to pick you up, okay?"

She looked up at me with swollen, red eyes. She blinked, but eventually nodded.

I tried to estimate how far I could carry her without dropping her. She must've been around the same weight as Max, so I could carry her...

I picked her up, and almost dropped her out of surprise. Because she couldn't of weighed more than sixty-five pounds, and she's 5' 10''. I know that she's half bird and we have light bones and everything, but that couldn't be healthy.

I took off into the sky and looked around for a while, though it seemed there were no cities or towns anywhere near to us. Eventually giving up on searching for civilization, I flew over to a small forest and found a big tree near the edge and landed. I sat Vic down on the ground and rummaged through my pack until I found a small sleeping bag. I pulled it out and unzipped it, wrapping it around her tightly. She shivered.

"Why did you tell me you weren't feeling okay? You could've killed yourself! Your backpack weighs two-thirds as much as you do!" I exclaimed.

She just sat there. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

Just the way she said it, I knew she actually meant it. She felt bad, but for what? And now she was apologizing _to me_ when she'd only been hurting herself.

I bandaged up all of her cuts on her arms and legs after cleaning them out. She remained silent for the whole time, occasionally biting her lip when I pressed on a wound.

"Are you okay Vic? You fell pretty hard." I asked her.

She pulled the sleeping bag tighter around her. "I just, had a headache."

Max got headaches. Just like Vic. I shook the thought from my head. "What kind of headache?"

"The kind that makes me want to die." She replied bluntly.

I reached into my bag and pulled out a granola bar. "Here, eat it."

Vic shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

"Yes, you are." I'd just seen her puke up her guts, she had to be hungry.

She shook her head again as a tear slid down her cheek. "I don't want to eat."

I sat down next to her. "Why do you throw up?"

She stared straight ahead. "I-um-it's a long story."

"We have time."

She didn't say anything for a long time, just stared straight ahead with a blank expression on her face.

"Remember how I told you I couldn't forget anything?" Vic mumbled.

I nodded.

She sighed. "It's much more than that."

"Okay, explain."

She bit her lip. "Fang I want you to understand something before I start. And I know you're going to deny it or whatever, but I want to make this clear; I'm a really bad person. I'm selfish, and I do stupid things that hurt people all the time. I don't think I've really done anything for someone without hurting them in some way. I'm just an all around terrible person."

I didn't agree, but I nodded anyways, knowing she wouldn't believe me if I told her she wasn't.

Vic took a deep breath. "See it all started a really long time ago, when I was two years old. I realized I couldn't forget anything, but it wasn't just that I could remember; it was that I could watch it over again, like a movie, but more real. It felt like a was standing off to the side, watching the moment like I was there in the background at the actual time, but I was completely invisible to everyone in the memory, the way it is in cheesy ghost movies with time travel."

I nodded to show I was listening.

"One day, a few months after my original discovery, I experienced skin to skin contact with a scientist. Her memories just rushed to me, and I realized that I had the ability to read through other people's memories too, just watch them like a movie. And it all happened in less than a second. I'd come in contact with a person and then _zap_ I had seen their whole life. Everything they'd experienced was in my mind for me to see. I realized how powerful that was from that age." She smiled ruefully. "I liked power. I was a really twisted child."

I listened intently, trying to capture every word she said.

"I played around with this skill for most of the time while I was locked up in my dog crate. I examined everyone I met, seeing how far I could read when I discovered that I could feel someone's emotions while I was prowling their memories; how did they feel at the exact moment, and even more, what were they thinking? I was fascinated. Over weeks I made a new discovery too: after I was hooked up to someone's mind I could prowl the minds of everyone else they met, had seen face to face, and read their thoughts too, and then I could read the second person thoughts and got forward to the people they'd met...like a web of connections. You following?"

I nodded my head.

"I later realized that I could change people's memories; make them believe whatever I wanted them to believe. I wielded this gift happily, twisting people to my will. I could so much as make teachers believe I had been in their class for a whole year, or I even got a married couple to believe I was their kid."

"Wow," was all I said.

Vic pressed her fingers to her temples in pain. "But like I said, I was a twisted child, I was really selfish, and I held resentment like a pro. I...I," tears streamed down her face, "I justified all the terrible things I did to people in my mind, and I assumed it was okay. I mean, they'd hurt me. They deserved it, right? Even though I was little, I _knew_ that she couldn't get out, but I told myself I couldn't save her until I believed it and I left her, and it wasn't even her fault. I was five, but I knew I could have saved her but I didn't."

She bent her head down and shuddered. I wrapped my arms around her in a strange hug. "Vic, it was once. It's nothing."

In my head, my mind was reeling. Who was _she_?

"Fang, that was only the first one. She called me her big sister and I killed her out of spite." She muttered. "I'm a bad person; I don't deserve to be alive."

Flashbacks of the time she freaked out on me in a scummy hotel flitted through my head. "Don't say that."

She shook violently. "And then there were the others. They were happy, they were all so happy until I came along. They were perfect, and I ruined them. And I killed him. I left him."

"Who?" I asked utterly confused.

"And they were so right to hate me, they should have. I'm a bad person, only do bad things and I-I-I never helped anyone."

She suddenly froze. She ripped off the sleeping bag within seconds and quickly crawled away from the tree. She'd made it about five yards before she started to throw up. The tiniest amount came up before she started to dry heave, painful lurches as nothing came out. She stopped after about ten or maybe eleven. She shivered like crazy, and her bottom lip was trembling, like a child.

She clutched her stomach. "Sometimes, the memories, they just, rush back to me. All the bad things I've done to people. And they don't go away, but it hurts, like a headache, except the pain is so intense I just need it to stop, even if I need to kill myself. All the memories, all the things I've done need to get out, but they can't. So I throw them up, and the pain stops. But it always comes back again. The price I pay for being a bad person."

"What about Clara? You helped her." I insisted, remembering my dream from a few nights ago.

Vic shook her head. "I didn't in the end. You don't know half of the things I've done."

"You're right, I don't. But I know you aren't a bad person, despite what you think. You are important."

She shook her head fiercely. "I'm a useless person; I wasn't destined to save the world. I don't have people who care about me, and I let down all the ones who did. When I die, there will be nothing to remember me for; I didn't stop Itex, I didn't save the lives of millions, I didn't work for a world organization in order to help people. I was just an experiment that wasn't meant to live. I'm nothing to anybody. I'm absolutely worthless in the eyes of people. I'm alone, and everyone hates me."

"I'm here. With you," I told her. "I don't hate you."

She crawled over and wrapped the sleeping bag around herself. "I hate myself." She mumbled.

"What?"

"I hate myself more than I've ever hated anyone else. More than I hate the whitecoats, more than I hate Jeb, more than I hate guys. I just hate myself to the core."

"That's not true." I stared at her. She was always so confident, so sure of herself. She always impressed how awesome she was upon me.

"You once asked where I would be if I hadn't met you. And I said Ohio."

"Yeah?" I asked, confused as to what this was about.

She bit on the zipped of the sleeping bag. "I lied."

I coughed uncomfortably, unsure of why she was mentioning this. "Where would you have been?"

"I would've been happy," she said wistfully. "I would've been dead."

**Please review. See that button down there, how it taunts you? If you press it...you'll...save a marmot! That's it!**


	11. Chapter 11

**This one`s a shorter chapter, but I couldn`t think of anything else to write. Plus, I already feel bad for not updating in... what? Two months? Sorry. It's just my summer been **_**really**_** crazy busy.**

**Highlight of the day: My brother told me that when he gets older, he wants his bed to be a giant pokéball. So that when he was going to bed he could yell "Capture me!" He's almost seventeen.**

I forced myself to keep my appearance calm, though my mind was reeling. "What do you mean?"

She fingered the edge of the sleeping bag nervously. "I was tired. I couldn't fly much anymore due to the fact that none of the food I ate every stayed down. I was throwing up five times a day or so, and I didn't have the energy for it. And the Eraser attacks didn't stop and I was losing energy, and it went so far, and I felt so sick and desperate that I didn't even care anymore. I might have let them kill me in a fight or something. I just wanted to give up, give in. It's not like I had anything to lose."

It felt sort of like someone was stabbing me in the chest with a knife. "So you just were going to die?"

She shrugged as if it were absolutely nothing. "Well, _yeah_. What was I supposed to do? It was coming for me, whether I cared or not. I wasn't retaining enough calories for all of the work I did, so eventually I would've died of starvation or vitamin deficiency. I only weighed about 39 pounds. Then you came along, and I stopped throwing up, and I started gaining weight again, and... I guess... well, I..."

I raised an eyebrow at her. _What?_

Vic sighed deeply. "I really didn`t like you being around. Because friends suck and people always let you down, and I always got the blame for everything, and I hate the world. And I wanted to disappear so that people couldn`t hurt me anymore and so the world would just leave me alone, but then you come around and I`m suddenly your captive. And I`m too weak and tired to fight you off so I just let you take me away. Because I didn't even care what happened anymore."

"Why didn't you run away?" I asked, because long before this conversation had sparked up, that question had been circling my mind.

She bit her lip. "I didn't throw up when you were around. And for me, that was a good enough reason. At least at the beginning. Now I have to think of reasons."

"Thanks," I said without enthusiasm.

Vic looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well I guess you're okay. So that's a reason. Happy?"

I shook my head no. "What suddenly makes me seem okay?"

"I guess I'd been in solitude for so long. Actually it was more like solitary confinement; never letting anyone get close to me, sticking to myself. I guess I forgot what it felt like to have someone you could depend on. A friend."

And it seems as though she's realizing this herself as she tells me. We are friends. It's kind of funny considering our _friendship_ started with captivity, which I doubt is normal. But then again, we have _wings._

She leaned back a bit and closed her eyes. "It's peaceful."

Welcome to my life, issue 12: Confusion Strikes Back! "What?"

"My mind," she explained "It feels at ease for once... well the first time in a long time, you know? Like it's not as pressured."

"That's because I'm the world's best therapist," I told her.

She laughed. "I guess I should just lie back and pour my heart out to people more often."

"It would really help me understand all of your craziness," I shrugged.

She stuck her tongue out like a five year old. "The only reason you don't understand is because you still have a close connection to your sanity. Mine drifted away a long time ago."

"I noticed," I smirked. "It's hard _not _to notice."

She glared. "Haha Fang. Now shut up before I _murder you._"

I smirked slightly, but choked it down a second afterwards. Because she sounded _just like_ Max. As in, that was a very Max-like thing to say. In a very Max-like tone. Creepy.

"Okay, why are you staring like that?" Vic asked awkwardly.

I didn't realize I was, but i gave her a look anyway. _Me, stare? Nah._

"Freak," she muttered. Great, even when she's in the worst of condition, even when she declares I'm her friend, she still finds a way to make fun of me.

I pulled a crushed sandwich out of my bag and handed it to her. "Eat."

She stared at it for a second before snatching it from my hands and unwrapping it. She tore tiny pieces off from the sandwich, chewing them carefully before swallowing them down.

And it then occurred to me. Just like that. "That's why you chew your food up so small."

She shot me a questioning look until it was replaced by one of understanding. She nodded. "It's a lot more painful to throw up when the food is chunky; it doesn't come up as easily."

I just nodded and leaned back a bit, my head feeling heavy on my shoulders. I tilted my head back to lean against the tree, letting myself feel at peace in the late afternoon. Gray clouds were rolling in over the sky, blocking out the suns bright light; not that it was really that noticeable beyond the tree leaves.

I closed my eyes, just resting there. And I did feel at peace, like nothing was rushed. A little breeze swooped by, and then another about ten minutes later. And I just lay there, soaking in the natural tranquillity of the scene.

God, I'm becoming so poetic.

I opened my eye very slightly, just peeking out from underneath the lids. Vic was poking the embers of a fire, moving them around to a more preferable spot. It was considerably darker than before, and I guessed it was night time. Vic tossed a glance my way, and her eyes softened the slightest bit. She pulled the sleeping bag over, then placed it over top of me, covering my legs and arms. She smiled.

She rummaged through her bag, pulling out a small sleeping bag of her own, along with a book, but not a novel kind of book. It was like...almost a...notebook. Like one I used in English class while living with Anne in Virginia. Vic's hands skimmed the pages as she turned them slowly, biting her lip the way she does when she's nervous or anxious. Her face softened incredibly, but occasionally hardened up, and got stiff.

She flipped another page, and I could've sworn I saw a tear roll down her cheek.

PGAE BREAK

"Wake up!"

I heard the sound, but I remained in my current position with my eyes closed.

"Fang, get your lazy ass up!" Vic said loudly.

Once again, I did not feel compelled to move.

That was, until the sharp pain erupted in my side. Yep, there nothing better than being kicked awake.

My eyes shot open to give Vic a death glare.

"Oh no, your glare is causing me to shake with fear," she said, voice laced with sarcasm. "I'm going to cower from your line of sight, because you are so frightening. Come on, get up."

I groaned as I forced myself to sit up straight. Sunlight was filtering in through the tree leaves, one hitting my face dead on. I shifted a few inches to the left.

Vic was rifling through my bag, pulling out what seemed to be her seventh sandwich. I was making an educated guess based on the number of sandwich wrappers strewn on the ground.

"I don't think I've ever been this hungry in my life," she moaned, while shoving a ripped piece of sandwich into her mouth.

"Leave at least one for me," I said, rolling up my sleeping bag and tucking it away in my pack. The morning air was cool and crisp, the way it is when you fly twenty thousand feet up in the air.

Vic poked a log in the fire and places some dead pine needles into the bottom, causing it to flare up. "I think I can help you."

What a great way to start the morning. "With what?"

She placed a stick into the fire. "With your mission."

I stared at her in amazement. "Really?"

"Uhuh," she nodded "See, I know you're looking for mutants and I know where some are located."

"And you never told me?" I said with exaggerated patience.

"Well, it's not like you ever asked," she scoffed, rolling her eyes dramatically.

I glared. "Oh gee, I guess it's _my_ fault."

Her turn to glare. "You know what? It is."

I shook my head, realizing there was absolutely no point in arguing with Vic. "Okay, where?"

"Minnesota, just south of Mankato. There's a group of them, living in hiding." She said plainly, but I could see her jaw tensing, the way her fists were curling up tightly. And I know, that it took a lot for her to tell me.

"Thanks," I told her sincerely.

She rolled her eyes like it was no big deal, even if it was. "Yeah, well I'll give you a heads up and tell you they aren't exactly the nicest people alive."

I cocked my eyebrow. _Really?_

A look of hatred washed over her face for a second, flashing for only a fraction of a second, I would've missed it if I'd blinked. "Let's just say, if the opportunity arises, I might kill the one main bitch. Just thought I'd tell you so there wouldn't be any surprises."

"Lovely," I said without emotion.

She shrugged. "Just don't say you haven't been warned."

There was a moment of silence. I mean, Vic's threat to kill the "one main bitch" could be interpreted in different ways:

She was joking around. I mean, she always make jokes about murdering people. Example, me.

She really didn't like this girl (I was making an assumption) and sometimes she wanted to kill her.

Vic actually wants to slit this girl's throat.

But I guess I`d figure out which she intended sooner or later.

**Okay, so I know it wasn't the best, but could you please review? Please?**


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